AN undertaker has been charged with 11 counts of fraud and theft.

Andrew Baker, of Pebworth near Honeybourne, was charged yesterday with four counts of fraud by false representation.

The 50-year-old, who operated in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, is accused of taking payments for funeral plans but not investing the funds correctly and misappropriating them.

He is also charged with one count of fraud by false representation for allegedly knowingly double charging a client by sending an invoice twice after he had already been paid.

West Mercia Police has also charged him with four charges of theft where he is accused of stealing money collected for charity at funerals and two charges of ‘retaining a wrongful credit’.

All the offences took place between 2010 and 2013 and were committed in Worcestershire, Gloucestershire along with one offence of theft in Warwickshire.

Mr Baker has been released on bail to appear at Worcester Magistrates’ Court on Friday,May 9.