A FORMER soldier stole thousands of pounds from Downton veterans' charity Help For Heroes, a jury has been told.

Ex Royal Green Jacket Mike Buss raised £40,000 for the forces charity through a series of fundraising events between October 2009 and September 2011, including running 100 marathons in 100 days.

But it is alleged the former gym boss kept £23,000 for himself.

Buss denies fraud and theft.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court: "He is subsidising his current account from his charity account and he is not paying over to the charity the monies that he should."

Buss was making mortgage payments of £500 to his girlfriend, despite his only income being his £2,800-a-year military pension, the court heard.

The jury heard he also made regular payments from his charity account into his current account, often when it went into the red, and set up a standing order in February 2011.

Buss told police that if he was stealing charity money, he wouldn't have been living in poverty and would have paid off his debts and bought a new car, but instead he was behind on his mortgage and had furniture donated by the Royal British Legion.

He told detectives: "I have never made £27,000. I have got a house six months in arrears, I have got a lot of debt."

And he told them he had been "on the breadline" for a number of years.

When officers asked him if he was taking a wage from the money coming in to his account, he replied: "Money from corporate, yes. Money in charity tins, no."

He said he used sponsor money to keep himself going but also to fund his charity events.

Buss, of Bara Close, Highworth, said he had been treated in a mental health unit after taking an overdose and trying to slash his wrists following his arrest.

He said: "I just feel totally insulted. It is not just any old charity, they are charities that are close to my heart. I was a soldier, I still consider myself a soldier.

"I am disgusted with the way people have found me guilty before I was even charged."

"There was never anything dishonest about what I did. It has just been abuse after abuse. I have had social media comparing me to Rolf Harris."

The trial continues.