A long standing member of the Helston cricketing community has been jailed for eight months for trying to burn down the club after stealing and gambling £500 of takings.

Jamie Paul Richard Borrett, of Bulwark Road, was sentenced at Truro Crown Court on Thursday after being found guilty on Tuesday of theft and arson.

During the trial, the court heard 38-year-old Borrett had been involved with Helston Cricket Club for 20 years and was a barman and keyholder for the front door security gate, and the safe.

On the evening of the attempted fire on July 14, 2016, he volunteered to lock up, and he claimed in testimony that he left around five minutes later, returning home to his girlfriend.

But club chairman David Frew arrived at 8.30am that dayto find the front door shut but unlocked and the padlock to the security gate broken, which the prosecution suggested was a "way to deflect attention away from him."

Mr Frew also found a singed sweatshirt and seats which had apparently been used to attempt to start fires, and the gas hobs in the kitchen turned on.

Takings were missing from the safe, but the clubhouse gambling machine - which he had only emptied the previous day - contained £520, including a £20 Scottish note that had been in Wednesday's takings, and the machine showed money had last been put in at 2.51am.

Bathsheba Cassell, for the defence, said there was no evidence to put Borrett at the clubhouse at the time of the crimes, with no witness and nothing on the CCTV.

She said Borrett "does not dispute offences were committed that night," but "he simply says it was not him that committed them."

However, counsel for the prosecution Gareth Evans spoke of the "common sense" decision and told the jury: "I respectfully invite you to say that this is a case that does what it says on the tin."

Judge Simon Carr sentenced Borrett to eight months imprisonment.