A SERVING member of an Army regiment which fought battles in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya has been charged with conning its three squadrons out of more than £30,000.

Sergeant Brian Morris, of Whitley Bay, is set to appear at Northallerton Magistrates Court over four alleged offences of fraud by abuse of position while he acted as the regimental accountant for 9 Regiment Army Air Corps, which is based at Dishforth Airfield, near Thirsk.

The regiment, which was the first to receive the Apache helicopter and has three squadrons of Lynx helicopters, destroyed more than 100 targets in Libya before the fall of Colonel Gaddafi, in 2011, while Morris served the regiment.

It has also provided support to the Special Forces, with the regiment's most high-profile operation in recent years seeing its soldiers involved in a daring rescue mission to recover a fallen Royal Marine at Jugroom Fort, in Helmand Province, in February 2007.

The regiment, which also provides aid and support to countries facing challenges around the world, has been granted the Freedom of Boroughbridge in recognition of its work.

The fraud charges allege Morris had been expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of 9 Regiment Army Air Corps, while working at the North Yorkshire base, but he "dishonestly abused that position intending thereby to make a gain", between August 2009 and December 2011.

The 43-year-old is also accused of two offences of theft, between May 2009 and February 2012, the charges for which state he stole £4,409 of the regiment's bar profits and £4,396 of cash.

The hearing on Friday will also see Morris charged with three counts of concealing or removing criminal property.

Those charges state he created a false record of payments from the regiment's accounts to creditors without making the necessary record to disguise the accountancy deficits, made a false record of bank transactions and concealed deficits using records for vending machine takings.

It is alleged the bogus accounting allowed Morris to remove £8,271 from the regiment's coffers

between March 2009 and January 2012.