A FORMER naval Lieutenant Commander is facing a prison sentence after admitting defrauding a national charity.

David Shepherd was head of operations at the Royal National Lifeboat Institute based in Poole when he committed fraud on December 12 last year by filing a false invoice for £4,773.60.

Appearing at Bournemouth Crown Court on Monday, the 54-year-old, of Old Barn Road in Bere Regis, spoke quietly to enter a guilty plea to the single charge against him.

Shepherd was warned by Judge John Harrow that all sentencing options are open when he appears again before the court on Friday, November 28.

Robert Pawson, defending, said: “Mr Shepherd served in the Royal Navy for 22 years as a Submariner Lieutenant Commander.

“He cannot explain why he did what he did but he accepts it.”

A pre-sentence report is to be prepared by the Probation Service before Shepherd is sentenced.

A number of character references are also expected to be submitted in mitigation.

Judge Harrow released the defendant on conditional bail, but told him the action is “no indication of a likely sentence.

“This is a very serious breach of trust as you know, and it could carry a prison sentence,” he warned.

“I am not saying it will, as nobody has yet decided. It is important that the court has all the information about you before sentencing.”

Shepherd was appointed head of staff officer training at the RNLI headquarters in September 2006.

For nine years previously he was responsible for the delivery of operational training to volunteer crews for 42 different lifeboat sta-tions from North Norfolk to the Isle of Wight.

He was then made head of operations in September of last year.

From 1977 to 1997, he was a Royal Navy Submariner, serving in most classes of submarine as a warfare officer.

In 1995, Shepherd completed the Submarine Commanding Officers Qualifying Course, which is known by its colloquial name “perisher”.