The owner of a wildlife sanctuary is facing claims that he defrauded fundraisers out of tens of thousands of pounds after telling them he would give his house to the organisation.

Chris Tucker is alleged to have raised money for the animal rescue sanctuary he runs and used it to buy half of his house from his wife after they split.

Prosecutors argue that Tucker never intended to transfer the house to the organisation and intended to keep it for himself

On the first day of his crown court trial held at Brighton Magistrates’ Court, prosecutor Gareth Burrows told the jury that the 59-year-old operated Bexhill and Hastings Wildlife Sanctuary and Rescue in his garden in Chantry Avenue, Bexhill.

He added that Tucker had told volunteers at the sanctuary that he needed to raise money to buy half of his house from his wife after they divorced or the property would need to be sold.

The alleged instances of fraud are alleged to have taken place between 2014 and 2019.

Jill Lethbridge, a volunteer who helped to raise funds, said: “The rescue hit a crisis point where it needed to raise money to keep going.

“The situation was that his ex-partner needed her share of the property and without that funding the rescue would close and the animals would be homeless.

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“All the way along there had been an issue with the premises and the money. Right from the start he said when the money was raised it would become some sort of recognised body.

“It [the notion of putting the house in trust] was the total reason I did it. I would not have fundraised for an individual. I fundraised for the entity as something that existed and could go on.”

The court also heard Facebook posts from the sanctuary saying “I’m giving up all of my shares in the property” and that “it’s for the animals”.

Mr Burrows added: “He told them that he would not own the house, the charity would.”

A GoFundMe page was set up to raise money for the house which the prosecution claim was set to be transferred into a trust rather than keeping it for himself.

Mr Burrows also told the court that one man “simply would not have donated had he thought he was buying the defendant a house”.

Ethu Crodie, defending Tucker, argued that “we can’t tell who wrote the words or who added the words”.

He continued: “You [Ms Lethbridge] along with all the other volunteers, including Chris, came up with a half-a***d idea about raising the money and saving the sanctuary and creating some kind of legal entity that you hadn’t in any way researched.”

The court heard that Tucker argues he “never claimed he would give up his half of the property” and never claimed he would transfer the house to the organisation.

Tucker is also said to have originally got involved in animal rights as an activists in the 1980s.

Tucker claims instead that he intended to transfer half of the house to his daughter.

Tucker denies one charge of fraud.

The trial continues and is expected to last a week.