A FORMER Everton charity chief was found guilty of stealing thousands of pounds from its accounts.

Jurors took two hours to convict Graham Lewis of plundering £5,000 from Everton in the Community (EiC) while he was chief executive.

Lewis, 44, denied the single charge of theft, but the Liverpool Crown Court panel rejected his story.

The smartly-dressed charity boss, who has also worked for Knowsley Borough Council, showed no emotion as the verdict was delivered.

A female supporter, believed to be his wife, broke down in tears in the public gallery.

Philip Tully, defending, asked the court for a report on his client.

During the four-day trial, jurors heard Lewis, of Immingham Drive, Garston, had “duped” an EiC finance clerk into cashing a cheque and handing him a brown envelope stuffed with £20 notes.

Kenneth Grant, prosecuting, told the court Lewis ordered clerk Clare Radford to ask charity backer Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) for a “secret” £5,000 lump sum.

He then told Radford to give him the money in cash, claiming it was to generate extra funding, saying he would then give it back to MMU.

Ms Radford told the court she remembered handing over the cash on April 30, 2008, saying: “When I handed him the envelope with £5,000 cash to him he laughed, because handing £5,000 in a large brown envelope, it’s not done. He had a laugh about it.”

The money has never been traced.

Lewis left the organisation about three months later and the allegation only came to light when Ms Radford told his replacement, Gary Townsend.

Lewis denied the entire allegation, saying the cash had been for training his staff in research techniques so they could assess the success of a project in Shanghai.