CHEQUES totalling £14,000 were taken from a charity youth organisation’s bank account without permission, a court heard.

Barbara Clarke, 21, Colin Dignam-Gill, 35, and David Smith, 44, are all accused of converting criminal property by cashing the cheques belonging to the Country Park Youth and Community Association, in Croxteth Park, Liverpool.

Liverpool Crown Court heard a police inquiry found the money was paid into their accounts.

All three deny the charges against them.

But Robert Jansen, prosecuting, told the court all three must have been “at least suspicious” as to where the large sums of money had come from.

He told jurors the association was formed in 1994 with the intention of providing a youth club or facilities for youngsters in the Croxteth Park area.

In 2000, the group managed to secure £25,000 in funding from Liverpool council.

But the association stagnated after the unexpected death of founder member Margaret Williamson.

The money was left in a bank account to be spent in the future on youth facilities. But Mr Jansen told the court that, in January, 2007, Mrs Williamson’s son, Andrew, opened a bank statement and discovered the charity cash was being withdrawn.

He reported the disappearance to the police after confirming with other founder members of the group, including Croxteth councillor Rose Bailey, that no money should have been taken out.

A police investigation revealed three cheques totalling £8,600 were paid into the account of Clarke between November 17, 2006, and January 2, 2007. Two further cheques of £2,600 were paid into the accounts of Smith and Dignam-Gill.

Clarke, of Dundonald Street, Birkenhead, claimed she was cashing the cheques on behalf of a man she was seeing at the time.