Commenting on the sentencing of a man convicted of gambling away public money intended to help armed forces veterans, Darren Millar AM, Chair of the National Assembly’s Cross Party Group on the Armed Forces, said:

“This is a contemptible act of fraud and I welcome the fact that justice has finally been served.

“We need far tougher monitoring in future to ensure that support from the taxpayer for our veterans is delivered to those in need and cannot be frittered away by selfish and thoughtless individuals.

“Our armed forces go to extraordinary lengths to keep our country safe and it is a sad state of affairs that the goodwill to recognise such dedication has been abused.”