A 37-year-old man has been remanded into custody for carrying out a "sophisticated" fraud against a youth charity.
Kevin McGuckin, from Falls Road in west Belfast, admitted seven counts of fraud by abuse of position against The Bytes Project.
He initially appeared at Belfast Crown Court via a videolink with his solicitor's office.
However, Judge Geoffrey Miller ordered that McGuckin attend the hearing in person.
Although no details of his offending emerged today, he pleaded guilty to seven offences committed over a period from April 2017 to November 2018 which amounted to £20,616.
He admitted that 'whilst occupying a position in which he was expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of The Bytes Project, dishonestly abused that position in that he submitted a falsified invoice' on five occasions.
McGuckin also admitted 'obtained payments totalling £5,500 from The Bytes Project to fund a Master's Degree which he used for personal use', and of 'purchasing electronic equipment totalling £4,874 for use by The Bytes Project using funds from The Bytes Project and then returned the equipment to receive a refund which was used for personal use'.
The Bytes Project is a voluntary youth organisation that uses ICT to engage socially excluded young people in Northern Ireland and enable progression into education, training and employment.
Judge Miller said he had received submissions from the Crown and defence, as well as character references for the defendant.
He was handed an additional reference from defence barrister Turlough Madden which confirmed McGuckin had been attending gambling addiction services.
Describing his offending as "serious", Judge Miller said: "The operation of deceit and fraud in this case is one against a charity.. and one which was sophisticated."
Pointing out McGuckin had an old but "very relevant" previous conviction, the judge said there was "no doubt the custody threshold has been passed".
He remanded McGuckin into custody ahead of sentencing on March 12.