A LIEUTENANT colonel from Lancashire accused of defrauding taxpayers of nearly £220,000 to send his children to a private school has told a jury he had not misled Army bosses.

Robert Henry Jolleys, 52, is alleged to have claimed the cash to send his three children to the exclusive Roman Catholic Stonyhurst College in Lancashire.

To be eligible for the continuing education allowance, Jolleys had to be married and living with his wife Judith in married quarters, Swindon Crown Court has heard.

Jolleys, of Woodlands Park in Whalley, is accused of five charges of obtaining a money transfer by deception, three charges of fraud and three charges of forgery. He denies all the allegations.

It is alleged that the father of three, who has since left the Army, claimed £218,094.11 in continuing education allowance between January 2002 and December 2009.

The court has heard that Jolleys, who is known as Henry, was legitimately claiming the allowance until 2002 when he separated from his wife.

He is accused of not informing his superiors of the split – therefore creating a change in his circumstances – meaning he may have no longer received the allowance.

Under cross-examination Jolleys accepted he knew the ‘broad rules’ around claiming the allowance but maintained he and his now ex-wife had not separated when he was posted from London to North Yorkshire in 2002.

Prosecutor Nicolas Gerasimidis asked Jolleys: “The truth of the matter is that you and your wife had broken up, you were not together, you had separated?”

Jolleys replied: “That is not the case.”

(Proceeding)