Two charity finance directors have been jailed this week for stealing a combined £88,000 from charities to fund gambling habits.

In separate incidents Omar Binbasilar of Regular Forces Employment Association and David Field of Herefordshire Headway defrauded their respective charities.

Binbasilar faked invoices to siphon off £43,000, spending the cash on online gambling. According to the Guardian Epping Forest Binbasilar turned to gambling after his finance director job became “increasingly stressful and demanding.”

He was caught after a colleague noticed an invoice for a computer had been processed twice.

Since his arrest, Binbasilar, who received medals after serving in Northern Ireland, the Falklands and the Gulf War, has set up a standing order from his army pension to pay back £100 per month to the Regular Forces Employment Association.

He was jailed for two years and eight months for the crime.

Field has been jailed for four years for stealing £45,000 from brain injury specialist charity Herefordshire Headway.

Hereford Times reports that Field lied when he was employed as a book-keeper by the charity, pretending to have a Chartered Institute of Management qualification and not disclosing that he had previously been jailed for fraud.

Over a four month period, Field stole £45,000 from the organisation, spending the money on gambling and paying off credit card debts.

Field has been declared bankrupt, meaning Herefordshire Headway will not get the stolen funds back.