A man has been jailed for four and a half years for stealing £300,000 donated by the public who believed it would go to military charity Help for Heroes.

Christopher Copeland, 52, from Devon, admitted one charge of fraud by false representation and one charge of concealing criminal property at Exeter Crown Court. He was yesterday sentenced to four and a half years for the crimes that he had committed over an 18-month period between February 2010 and September 2011.

Judge Philip Wassall told him that he had abused the goodwill and trust of the public and risked the good name of the Help for Heroes charity, which raises funds for injured service personnel and their families.

Jo Brookes, income protection officer at Help for Heroes, said: “Copeland deceived the public into thinking they were making donations which would help our wounded. Instead he was stealing from them and using the money for his own personal gain through a deceptive web of fraud which took detectives three years to untangle.

“We have been astonished by the response of the public. Many of those defrauded by him have contacted us to express shock that someone would use organised and criminal tactics to prevent money supporting the wounded.”

Copeland and a team of fundraisers, who were paid expenses, used a fleet of ex-military vehicles decorated with Help for Heroes branding to encourage supermarket shoppers to put cash in donation buckets. He would then deposit the money into his personal bank account.

His crimes were only revealed when a volunteer became suspicious and tipped off Devon and Cornwall Police. The force discovered that almost nothing had been paid to Help the Heroes.

The Western Daily Press reported that Judge Wassall said: “I also take into account that offences such as this dent public confidence in the charity affected.

“The point has been made that this likely effect has been very damaging for Help for Heroes and the public are likely to question how safe their donations are and whether they should be made at all.”