Bradman cap loaned by former Adelaide accountant Peter Mark Dunham ‘to be sold’ as he faces multimillion-dollar fraud case

A RARE Sir Donald Bradman “Baggy Green” cap is at the centre of a repossession bid to repay a multi-million dollar debt accrued by a criminally-accused former Adelaide accountant.

Peter Mark Dunham leaves the Adelaide Magistrates Court. Picture Greg Higgs

A RARE Sir Donald Bradman “Baggy Green” cap is at the centre of a repossession bid to repay a multi-million dollar debt accrued by a criminally accused former Adelaide accountant.

Peter Mark Dunham, 73, is accused of “abusing a position of trust” to steal, or deceive, victims and a national not-for-profit sports body, out of nearly $3 million over seven years.

But as the former chartered accountant faces 37 theft and deception charges, dozens of creditors are fighting to recoup millions of dollars after he declared himself bankrupt in August last year.

Among Dunham’s listed assets is the Australian cricket cap worn by Sir Donald - a friend and former neighbour of his father in Adelaide’s east - during his first Test Match in 1928.

Dunham, a grandfather and father of two, had loaned the cap to the State Library’s Bradman Collection in 2003 after Sir Donald gave it to him in the late 1950s but had downplayed its sporting significance.

Sir Donald Bradman's baggy green cap with owner Peter Dunham.

Peter Mark Dunham outside court earlier this year.

The sportsman, who died in 2001 aged 92, gave it “as a token of his family friendship” following the death of Dunham’s father, according to a creditors’ report seen by The Advertiser.

The cap, thought lost for more than 60 years, was valued at $150,000 for Dunham’s bankruptcy trustee Nick Cooper, a partner at Worrells, who is looking to sell it to repay some of Dunham’s debts.

Mr Cooper, who did not respond to inquiries but has been in contact with the library, is acting for 39 creditors owed at least $5.2 million.

The valuation was based upon an Australian sale but the creditors’ report, dated September 20 last year, revealed a higher price could be reached oversees although a Federal Government export permit was unlikely.

Sir Donald Bradman batting in 1948.

It has not recently been on public display and remains in secure storage in the library’s rare book room. The library has no claim to it, said its director Alan Smith.

Dunham’s lawyers have security over a 2005 Porsche Boxster he has use of “in lieu of outstanding legal fees”, the report states.

Dunham, formerly of Kensington but who now resides in a Glenelg apartment owned by his son’s company, has yet to plead to charges between August 2008 and July 2015.

The case allegedly involves eight victims, one of whom is aged in her 80s, and the Australian Masters Athletics Incorporated, where he was treasurer for almost a decade.

Authorities allege 28 crimes are “aggravated” because he “abused a position of trust”.

Court documents allege he illegally obtained more than $2.92 million in Adelaide and other areas across the state.

The sporting group lost almost $1.3 million and some other victims six figure amounts, according to prosecution documents filed with the Adelaide Magistrates Court.

The documents allege Dunham — a former director of almost a dozen companies who operated a North Adelaide-based firm — stole varying amounts from $5000 to $150,000 at a time.

He was originally charged with 31 counts totalling $630,000.

No details have been revealed in court about what the money was used for or how he obtained the illegal funds. He faces up to 15 years in jail.

Peter Dunham, with a signed print given to his mother in 1957, which was one of only six. It is a copy of the original which hangs at Adelaide Oval.

Peter Dunham, left, and Bradman Museum curator Barry Gibbs at the Bradman Museum in 2003. The cap is valued at $150,000 and is in secure storage.

The court last month heard more time was needed to finalise statements from Tourism Western Australia and the sports group.

It is understood he has repaid a “significant” amount to the sports body.

Commercial and Electronic Crime branch detectives arrested Dunham, a former sprinter who was also heavily involved in the Master’s state branch, in April last year.

A Major Fraud squad investigation is ongoing. His accounting licence has been cancelled.

The Masters’ Brisbane-based president Wilma Perkins, 68, said body, which has about 3500 members, had been left “shocked”.

Separate Supreme Court action was settled in June last year after a “consent” judgment from Judge Graham Dart ordered him to repay almost $880,000 to eight investors.

Court documents alleged the group — half of whom are embroiled in the criminal case — “loaned” or “advanced” varying amounts to Dunham, who would repay the capital at above market interest rates.

But Dunham, who draws an annual $43,091 pension, declared himself bankrupt two months later, meaning the group never received payment.

Properties across Adelaide, including his $1.77 million former eastern suburbs family home, have been sold to repay Commonwealth Bank mortgages.

Dunham, who declined to comment, is due back in court this month.