TWO women who treated a youth football league 'like their own personal fiefdom' as they plundered it's coffers have been jailed today.

Treasurer Karen Prictor and chairman Margaret Rivers used money from of the North Wiltshire and District Youth and Minor Football League to live lives of luxury beyond their means.

They took their families on expensive long haul holidays, sometimes together, including a shopping trip to New York.

And in a bid to go on a final lavish trip to Cancun in Mexico with her husband and 19-year-old daughter Prictor lied to try and get a new passport, because the police had hers.

But she can't make the November flights as the pair are now behind bars with Prictor, 47, jailed for four years and Rivers, 55, getting two years and four months.

The pair not only siphoned off money paid as subs but also stole gate receipts from cup finals and even charged a team £450 to play on pitches the council had given them for nothing.

And when FA investigators started looking into the running of the league Prictor provided them with forged bank statements and a false audit and the pair bullied others in a bid to keep them quiet.

The police were called in and when they questioned the pair each claimed the money they took was an 'honorarium' for all the hard work they had done for the league.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how between January 2009 and December 2013, £1,986.770 was transferred into Prictor's account from the league.

During that period she then gave £35,658 to Rivers as well as paying for holidays, electrical goods and even a £1,700 log cabin in her garden.

Miss Squire said Prictor was receiving bank transfers and sums of cash on an almost daily basis, and sometimes two and three times a day.

"Clearly there is no individual victim in this case; we have many thousands of victims. To each the loss is small but the impact to the community is huge," she said.

"The trickle down effect was devastating to the parents and children who were running it properly, dedicating their time, and to the children of parents who were cheated by what was happening at the league.

"The essence of all this is the great abuse of trust and the continued impact it will have in grass roots football."

She said since the pair had been removed the league is back on its feet with 'an embarrassment' of wealth which has led to subs falling, equipment being bought and courses funded.

Prictor, of Beverley, Toothill, and Rivers, of Ramleaze Drive, admitted fraud and possessing criminal property. Prictor also admitted two counts of forgery and a passport offence.

Giuseppina Silvio, for Prictor, said her client started off using her debit card to pay for things for the league, as it didn't have one, and paying herself back.

But as time went on she started to take some for herself as well and is very sorry for what she has done.

Rob Ross, for Rivers, said his client was also full of remorse and suffered bad depression as a result of the case.

He said after giving long hours working in grass roots football since 1991 she had started taking payment, which she knew was wrong.

Jailing them Judge Peter Blair QC said "Karen Prictor: you together with Margaret Rivers ran this North Wiltshire Football League as your personal fiefdom. You exercised and enjoyed the power that it gave you.

"When people sought to challenge you, you engaged in subtle bullying and intimidation of them.

"You used this as a source of money to live a lifestyle beyond your normal employed means.

"You, Mrs Prictor, as we heard in a trial deceived your husband as well as many others in the football community.

"When you were confronted with evidence that established and proved this is what you had been up to you sought to minimise your culpability of the amounts you had milked from the league as honorarium payments.

"This was done secretly, it wasn't done openly. You can't begin to suggest to the police then, or to me today, or to anyone who has lost through this, that you had any justification along those lines. There was noting open about this with votes, and resolutions, and people involved in this.

"You also said nothing was to the detriment of the kids. I reject that argument as well; it is another falsehood and delusion.

"These are tough sentences and it is a sad day to find people who started out with the best of intentions to serve the community falling from grace as you have."

Rivers husband Andrew, who goes by the name Philip, 58, was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work after admitting possessing criminal property.

Prictor's husband, Kevin, 58, denied the charge and was acquitted by a jury.