Yorkshire Post Magazine
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=996872
Ex-policeman to face golf club theft charges
13 April 2005
Paul Whitehouse
A FORMER chief inspector is to appear in court to face a catalogue of theft allegations surrounding his work for a Yorkshire golf club.
Mick Butcher served with the South Yorkshire force for around 30 years before leaving the service in 2002.
Following investigations by his former colleagues, he has now been charged with 25 allegations of theft and one of false accounting.
The accusations stem from his time as company secretary for the Sandhill Golf Club at Middlecliffe in Barnsley.
Mr Butcher, 57, is no longer connected with the club, which was set up around 12 years ago.
Police were alerted after apparent discrepancies in the club's accounts were discovered.
Officers spent more than a year on a detailed investigation before bringing charges.
Mr Butcher, a freemason who lives at Lepton Gardens, Kendray, Barnsley, with his wife and daughter, was involved with the club for around two-and-a-half years.
He is due to appear at Barnsley Magistrates Court tomorrow morning to answer the allegations.
A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: "A 57- year-old man will be appearing at Barnsley Magistrates' Court on 25 counts of theft and one of false accounting in connection with an investigation by the Commercial Branch at Sandhill golf course."
During his police career Mr Butcher served on secondment to the Yorkshire Ripper squad in West Yorkshire during the operation to trace Peter Sutcliffe in the 1970s.
He has also served as the chief constable's staff officer with South Yorkshire Police and immediately before leaving the force was one of the highest ranking officers in the traffic department, based at the Operations Complex in Tinsley.
His last major inquiry for the force was into a drink-drive road crash which claimed six lives on the A57 at Todwick.
That investigation led to the conviction of Peter Noble, of Ladyfield Road, Thorpe Salvin, who was found guilty by a jury of causing death by dangerous driving.
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