A football club chairman described as a ‘pillar of the community’ pretended that a dilapidated tin shed was being used as a members-only gym in order to obtain thousands of pounds of Covid relief funding.

On one hand Owen Duggan, former chairman of Fishguard Sports AFC, was handing out hampers and cupcakes to support the local community during lockdown.

On the other he was applying to his then employer, Pembrokeshire County Council, on behalf of the club for a £4,000 grant that was available as part of the government’s Covid relief fund, claiming a derelict shed was being used as a gym.

Swansea Crown Court heard today, Tuesday, that Duggan, 41, of Heol Dewi, Fishguard, had told the council that the shed at St Mary’s Field, Fishguard, which had previously been used for storage by the club, was being used a gym for members of the football club.

Western Telegraph: The derelict shed as it stands today. Duggan admitted to fraudulently claiming that it was being used as a gym.The derelict shed as it stands today. Duggan admitted to fraudulently claiming that it was being used as a gym. (Image: Western Telegraph)

When a previous grant application was turned down in early 2021 Duggan queried this, stating in an email that the shed had been used a gym since the previous August and that it had fitness equipment in it.

In another email he said that a Pembrokeshire County Council official had said that the shed could be classed as a leisure facility, even though this had not happened.

In February 2021 a county council officer visited the shed on St Mary’s Field and found a dilapidated corrugated, overrgrown building. There was no evidence of it being used as either storage or a gym facility by the club.

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On March 25 charity worker Duggan, who was working for PCC at the time, emailed the authority to say that the shed had been broken into and items stolen.

Four days later he submitted an application for a £4,000 non domestic rate cash grant from Pembrokeshire County Council which was available to businesses affected by the pandemic. In this he said that the club had been unable to have any use of the shed, which it had started using as a gym the previous August.

The application was rejected and the county council instigated its own investigation before contacting the police.

Western Telegraph: Duggan, pictured here at the opening of Fishguard Sports AFC's new grounds in 2017, was described as a 'pillar of the community'. Duggan, pictured here at the opening of Fishguard Sports AFC's new grounds in 2017, was described as a 'pillar of the community'. (Image: Western Telegraph)

The court heard that the club was not in financial difficulty when the application was made and its books were in a good state.

Mr Davies, prosecuting, said that Duggan had previously been successful in securing grants totalling £11,000 which also related to the club’s use of St Mary’s field and the shed. These were subsequently questioned and paid back to Pembrokeshire County Council by the club.

Duggan was nitially charged with four counts of fraud. At first he maintained his innocence, entering not guilty pleas on two occasions last year.

In November he admitted the fourth charge, relating to the failed £4,000 application. The three other charges were dropped by the prosecution, with no evidence offered and not guilty verdicts formally recorded today.

In mitigation the court heard that Duggan was previously of clean character and was a ‘community minded decent man’ who was married with two children.

Defence solicitor Derek Perry said that he was ‘extremely remorseful and ashamed’ and had not been motivated by personal gain. He had previously made a ‘laudable’ effort to get what the club was entitled to.

He said that at one point the shed had had weights and an exercise bike in it, but that Duggan had ‘crossed the line and become dishonest by claiming it was a gym’.

Western Telegraph: St Mary's Field was used by the club for matches up until 2017. St Mary's Field was used by the club for matches up until 2017. (Image: Western Telegraph)

He added that the club had won awards for its actions during Covid, delivering hampers and picking up prescriptions and that Duggan was ‘front and centre of that’.

Judge HHJ Paul Hobson told Duggan that in the capacity as chairman of the club he had done a great deal of good. But in that capacity, he had also provided false information and committed fraud which had taken a ‘degree of planning and persistence’.

“The most striking deception was to describe a derelict shed as a functioning gym in order to obtain money,” he said.

Mr Hobson handed down a 12-month community order with a 100 hour unpaid work requirement. He also ordered that Duggan pay £1,000 toward prosecution costs.

He said that the fact that the grants were to counter the effect of the pandemic was an aggravating factor.

“The loss of good character in your case in a significant punishment. It is a cloud over you and those close to you,” he said. “You risked the club’s good name in what you did.”

 

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