An executive of a public-funded housing group has been jailed after defrauding the charity out of £325,000.

Lakhbir Jaspal, 47, of Gaydon, Warwickshire, was the Deputy Chief Executive of Accord Group which receives government grants to build affordable homes for low-income families.

Jaspal submitted a series of invoices, the largest for £97,980, between 2011 and 2012 from a bogus firm he had created.

Accord identified the fraud and confronted Jaspal who immediately admitted the theft, saying the money was needed to fund his mother’s residential care.

When the West Midlands Police took over the handling of the case they soon discovered Jaspal had actually used the money to buy two franchises from sandwich firm Subway, and was in the process of buying a third franchise for a new-build restaurant.

“It is a classic case of pure greed: not satisfied with a £147,000 a year salary he spotted an opportunity to defraud the company - one that is part funded by the taxpayer - to line his own pockets,” said Detective Constable Mark Delaney.

“He is a qualified accountant and abused his accountancy skills and his senior position to hide the fictitious invoices in Accords’ account figures.

“It’s particularly distasteful he tried claiming he needed the money to pay for his mother’s end-of-life care - but our enquiries showed she was admitted to a home in December 2013, more than 12 months after his last successful fraudulent invoice."

A spokesperson for Accord said the charity was shocked and disappointed with Jaspal’s actions, adding: “We have a legal agreement in place to recover the money and all costs, and we would like to reassure our staff and customers that it is business as usual for the group.”

“We would particularly wish to thank the Police, especially the lead officer, DC Delaney. They have worked tirelessly to bring the investigation to court in a speedy and highly professional way and they have done an excellent job in securing this conviction."

Jaspal admitted to eight counts of fraud by abuse of position at Birmingham Crown Court where he was sentenced to three years in prison.

Jaspal has agreed to pay back all the money along with a substantial amount towards Accord’s legal costs.