A CLUB secretary today spoke of his anger after being tricked by a conman who tried to trick £60,000 out of Burnley Borough Council.

Alan Kennedy, of Burnley Miners' Social Club, said he was disgusted the club's good name had been sullied by Michael Pullen.

Pullen, 59, was jailed at Burnley Crown Court on Thursday for four months 14 days, after forging an Inland Revenue letter claiming charitable status for the Miners' Club.

His application failed and police were alerted after he wrote to the council saying he wanted to appeal against its decision. If he had succeeded, it would have cost the council £58,264 - with half of this set to go into Pullen's pocket as his "hefty fee." Mr Kennedy said: "We originally got a flier from a financial group saying we would be able to save money by getting charitable status and we agreed to apply because we thought we had nothing to lose.

"However we didn't hear anything for a few months and alarm bells started to ring, especially as we had been promised £500 as a goodwill gesture, which never arrived.

"The next thing we knew about it was when two detectives turned up asking to see the documentation we had sent off.

"We have done nothing wrong so I am angry about how our name has been used."

Pullen, a 59-year-old grandfather, fled to Portugal last year on the day he should have been sentenced, because he feared he would to to jail. The law finally caught up with him on Tuesday as he was arrested boarding a plane for Thailand at Heathrow Airport.

Pullen, who now lives in Staines, Middlesex, had earlier admitted attempted deception and been committed for sentence by Pennine Magistrates.

Burnley Crown Court heard that in November 2001 the social club, based in Plumbe Street, Burnley, received a flier from M Davies Financial Services in Surrey. M Davies and the defendant were one and the same.

The leaflet said the firm could get the club a rebate from the local authority on its various rates by sending documents to the Inland Revenue to enable it to get charitable status.

Mr Kennedy sent documents to Pullen but heard nothing more. Documents were later faxed to Burnley Council by the defendant's firm but a tax officer was not satisfied and started inquiries. She contacted the Inland Revenue at Bootle and an employee was shown a letter purported to be written by him which stated the club would be eligible for charitable status. The letter had been forged.

Police were contacted, went to the address given for the firm and the defendant was arrested.