A couple from a village near Wem must pay back little more than £200 of the thousands of pounds they stole while running a Shropshire social club.

Graeme and Julie Fidler had used the stolen monies – estimated at around £78,000 – for luxury holidays and to clear their debts.

Both were made subject to Proceeds of Crime applications and confiscation orders were made at a hearing at Shrewsbury Crown Court last week.

Bernard Linneman, prosecuting, said that as 51-year-old Graeme Fidler was in custody the available amount for the court to recover was zero.

Judge Anthony Lowe made an order for Fidler to pay a nominal £10 and in the case of 39-year-old Julie Fidler an order was made in the sum of just £200.

The couple, of Pickhill, Burlton, had both pleaded guilty to fraud charges and in November last year Graeme Fidler was jailed for two years and his wife was given a 12-month community order.

The court had heard that the couple ran the Harlescott Social Club in Shrewsbury between 2012 to 2016 – Fidler was the steward and his wife did secretarial work at the club.

Fidler had admitted pocketing the money and his wife admitted her role on the basis that she took responsibility for laundering nearly £13,000 suspecting the money had been obtained illegally.

At the hearing in November the court heard the couple used the cash to repay debts and to pay for dream breaks, including a £4,700 trip to Florida.

Concerns were raised in April 2016 when staff noticed the bank balance was not what it should have been.

It became clear that some of the money had gone into the defendants' joint account or an account of a relative to which Julie Fidler had access.

The holiday in Florida was taken in October 2016, shortly before Fidler was suspended and then sacked, and another holiday, costing around £8,000, had already been booked.

The couple, who had previously run pubs, were found to have significant debts, including business rates in relation to both of them running a business.