A CHARITY official from York jailed for stealing more than £76,000 which was meant to help sick children has been allowed access to his cash so he can pay his mortgage.

Howard Rose was locked up last year after using his role as administrator of the Yorkshire Children’s Hospital to divert money from its funds into his own pocket over a three-year period.

The 63-year-old, of The Village, Earswick, admitted stealing the money from the charity’s Lloyds TSB account between June 2007 and March 2010 and is currently serving a 15-month jail sentence.

His barrister, Nicholas Barker, applied to York Crown Court for a variation of a restricting order placed on Rose’s finances pending a proceeds of crime hearing, which will take place next month. He said Rose needed to access £5,916.40 from his Scottish Widows state pension fund to pay a portion of his mortgage, which had fallen heavily into arrears since he was sent to prison.

Mr Barker told the court Rose needed the funds as he intended to sell his property and hoped to get “as much value as possible” from the sale.

The order was granted by Recorder Andrew Haslam.

Rose’s original court case heard he had run up personal debts of more than £180,000 and cashed 70 cheques meant as charitable donations for children’s causes across Yorkshire, with the amount he stole coming to £76,040.

He had worked for the trust, which provides essential equipment for children’s and neonatal wards, on a part-time basis since 2004. York Crown Court was told he had fraudulently written receipts for the cheques, as well as bogus correspondence from one charity claiming it had received and accepted a donation.

His defence team said at the time that ill-health had forced him to leave his other job as an administrator for the Alzheimer’s Trust and he became unable to repay the amounts he had stolen.