DISGRACED former Cotswold Water Park chief Dennis Grant has been jailed for four years and four months.

Grant had pleaded guilty to six charges of fraud. He was sentenced this morning at Gloucester Crown Court.

The former Chief Executive of the Cotswold Water Park Society has today been sentenced to four years four months imprisonment at Gloucester Crown Court for fraud valued at over half a million pounds.

Dennis Grant, of Upper Tadmarton near Banbury in Oxfordshire, was arrested in April 2010 after Gloucestershire Police received a complaint from the Cotswold Water Park Society.

The 63-year-old entered a guilty plea to six charges of fraud by false representation on June 17. He was accused of having money paid into his own bank accounts rather than those of the Cotswold Water Park. A total of £660,791.25 was paid into the account in 17 different payments between November 2006 and March 2009.

Detective Constable Barb Banning, who led the investigation, said: “Today’s result follows a long and meticulous investigation. “Mr Grant's actions deprived the Gloucestershire Community of commercial funding for a charity dedicated to maintaining and improving the Cotswold Water Park for the people of the county and its wildlife. “We are pleased with today’s result and that justice has been done."

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