A CLERK stole £20,000 from a parish council’s charity accounts — but died before the theft was discovered.

Geoffrey Hughes, who worked with North Turton Parish Council for 10 years, forged cheques in councillors’ names.

He used them to steal cash from Turton Tower’s charitable ac-count. The theft was only discovered after the 73-year-old’s death, when cheque stubs detailing thousands of pounds of unrecorded payments to his personal account were found.

Cllr Graham McIver, who was chairman when the theft was discovered, said he was annoyed that Mr Hughes had pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes.

He said: “We are left with a dead person who had taken money in an inappropriate way, and the money’s not in his bank account.

“Any personal memory I have of the man now is clouded by what he’s done.”

Mr Hughes, who lived in Edgworth, wrote between 60 and 70 cheques between his appointment in 1997 and his death in 2007.

Until now, only a handful of people have known about the theft.

But following an investigation, The Bolton News has uncovered the extent of Mr Hughes’ fraud.

See The Bolton News today for full details.