MISSING town clerk Jerry Taylor carried off the most sophisticated and complicated fraud an auditor had seen in his 20 years in the job.

Taylor, who was nicknamed Captain Pugwash by colleagues, is believed to have stolen more than £130,000 from the coffers of Whitworth Town Council before fleeing the country.

The former Naval Intelligence Officer is also thought to have taken computer and office equipment worth a further £7,000.

An auditor's report into the elaborate deception was read out at a packed public meeting in Whitworth last night.

But precise details of how the money was secreted out of the the council accounts have not been released for fear that any future criminal proceedings could be prejudiced.

Taylor, who was divorced weeks before the scandal became public, caught a ferry to the continent on the day auditors were due to check the council's accounts.

His abandoned Volvo car was later found by police in Hull and Interpol are still on the lookout for the missing man.

Detectives believe the retired Lieutenant Commander, who speaks fluent Russian, is living in the former Soviet Union

Councillors were so concerned about local feeling they asked for police to attend the public meeting but there were no disruptions.

A special charge has been put on Whitworth's council tax to help make up the shortfall and local people are still angry that the fraud went undetected for more than three years.

People living in Band D properties in the town will have to pay an extra £4.44 for the next five years to cover the cost of the con.

Eileen Kershaw, the leader of the council, said: "There was some talk of a lynching party at last night's meeting but fortunately everything went quite peacefully.

"What did emerge at the meeting was that this was an elaborate, complicated fraud that was almost virtually undetectable.

"We first started having problems with Mr Taylor when the Labour group took control off the council last May."

Government-appointed auditor Clive Portman told the town council it was the most sophisticated fraud he had investigated in the last two decades.

Coun Kershaw added: "People who came to meeting probably went away frustrated because they didn't get the answers they wanted. Most people wanted to know how the money was stolen but the police have asked us not to release those details."

Coun Kershaw also paid tribute to the town's new clerk Ron Pickup who took over in the wake of the scandal and has helped to sort out the financial mess.

Mr Pickup said: "The police and the district audit inquiry has now identified most of the sources of the leaking of the accounts.

"The police have spent a long time collecting evidence but details cannot be released in case any future trials are prejudiced."

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