The sentencing of a former teacher, who pleaded guilty to stealing £10,000 from a history group to fund his alcohol addiction, has been delayed until next month.

Daniel Moorhouse, 40, admitted taking the money from the Keighley & District Local History Society between February and May last year, while acting as the group’s treasurer, when he pleaded guilty to five charges of theft and one of forging a cheque before Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court in March.

However, Bradford Crown Court heard last Thursday Moorhouse had since changed his legal team, and his barrister Stephen Wood said there were now “grave reservations about his pleas in the lower court”.

Mr Wood said his client’s legal team had contacted police to ask for financial information relating to the case, including bank statements and receipts, as well as minutes of the society’s meetings, but had not yet received a reply.

Judge Peter Benson ordered that the Crown Prosecution Service must respond to Moorhouse’s solicitors by tomorrow, and adjourned the case for sentence on June 19.