A FORMER chief executive of a WA shire who stole almost $600,000 and gambled it away has been jailed for four-and-a-half years, with a judge telling him he let down his community.

Dacre John Alcock, 44, stole the money in instalments over 665 occasions between October 2011 and October 2015 when he was the chief executive at the Shire of Dowerin in the state’s Wheatbelt region.

Alcock used a shire credit card to deposit money into personal online betting accounts and also transferred money from the shire’s accounts into his personal bank account, the WA District Court heard on Friday.

Judge Felicity Davis said the father-of-three had sought to hide his offending from his workmates by falsifying bank statements and tax invoices, and only repaid about $28,000 from the $599,879 stolen.

“You believed you could win back your losses but you never did,” she said.

Alcock was caught after a bank contacted the shire, then the administration officer noticed other suspicious transactions, which led to an investigation by the Corruption and Crime Commission and WA Police.

Defence counsel Mark Andrews said his client’s gambling spiralled out of control after he was forced to make an employee redundant, and described Alcock as a disgraced and effectively unemployable man.

“He stands ready to pay his debt to society,” Mr Andrews said.

Judge Davis said Alcock’s dishonest offending was devious and calculated, and involved a significant breach of trust on a community of 700 people who had entrusted him to act in their interests.

She noted Alcock’s theft was equivalent to half the shire’s rates revenue for one year, or $850 per person.

Only $99,000 was recovered by the shire and it meant several projects were either not going ahead or had been scaled back, including work on the town hall and a caravan park, Judge Davis said.

She took into consideration that Alcock had stopped gambling since his arrest, had accepted responsibility and showed significant regret and shame, was seeking to rehabilitate himself and was at low risk of reoffending.

His wife also remained supportive of him although his crimes had put stress on their relationship, Judge Davis said.

Alcock, who pleaded guilty to three counts of stealing as a servant, must serve at least two-and-a-half years behind bars before he can be eligible for parole.

He was also ordered to pay more than $516,000 in compensation to the shire.