A CHURCH treasurer who stole more than £140,000 from organisations she volunteered for after amassing huge, secret debts killed herself when the theft was found out, an inquest heard.

Jill Gover, 54, of Moreton, was a respected member of her community and served as churchwarden at Holy Rood Church in Wool, bookkeeper for a village hall and a trustee for a colleague's trust fund.

But she racked up debts of £225,000 that included a £112,000 mortgage on a cottage, £38,000 for two BMW cars, three bank loans of £50,000, five maxed-out credit cards totalling £21,000 and a £5,700 clothes catalogue bill. She kept most of those debts hidden from husband Martin, who was 'lost for words' after hearing the full extent of his wife's deceit at her inquest.

The hearing heard Mrs Gover siphoned off £50,466 from the coffers of Holy Rood Church.

She made numerous church cheques out to herself after forging the second signatory.

Her deceit started to unravel after a cheque of £20,000 from the church to the Diocese of Salisbury bounced due to a lack of funds in its bank account.

Two days before she hung herself on March 31 last year, Mrs Gover was called to a meeting with vicar Rhona Floate to discuss the discrepancies. The clergywoman also left her a message on her phone hours before Mrs Gover's body was found by her husband in a shed at their home.

Detective Constable Richard Evans, from Weymouth CID, said investigations revealed Mrs Gover had been "misappropriating" church funds since 2008 and forging audit reports.

She stole at least £3,000 from the accounts of East Burton village hall where she served as treasurer.

Mrs Gover had also stolen £91,200 from the recipients of a trust fund she had worked as a bookkeeper for.

DC Evans said she wrote fraudulent letters to Scottish Widows requesting sums from the trust account and agreed a loan from the trust.

Mr Gover said he was "completely unaware" of what was going on and that some of what emerged at the inquest shocked him.

In an interview with police Mr Gover said the couple's hardware shop in Wool had been struggling but he thought his wife had it 'in hand.'

Deputy coroner Brendan Allen said although there was no suicide note he believed Mrs Gover intended to kill herself and recorded a verdict of suicide.