Fraudster to hand over Bolton charity cash or go to jail

A GRANDMOTHER who swindled the Bolton charity she worked for out of thousands of pounds has been ordered to hand over £8,000 or face two months in jail.

Fraudster Barbara Clarke, 70, used her position at Bolton Dementia Support to divert funds into her personal bank account, using cash to put down a deposit on a car and pay mobile phone bills for her extended family.

In December last year a judge branded her behaviour as "deplorable" and sentenced her to 16 months in prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Clarke worked as an administrator for the small charity and, as well as diverting funds to her own account, she employed her grandson, giving him sick pay he was not entitled to while he was working for another company, falsified invoices and faked letterheads to try and cover her tracks.

Clarke admitted seven counts of fraud, totalling more than £23,000 and her grandson, Scott Schofield-Clarke, 22, pleaded guilty to making false claims about his employment at the charity and possessing a letter for use in fraud in 2018.

At her sentencing hearing the court was told that Clarke had already repaid £10,000 of the money she stole.

And at a proceeds of crime hearing at Bolton Crown Court this month Recorder Graham Wells ordered her to had over a further £8,110.25 as compensation to the charity within three months or spend time behind bars.

The court had heard how Clarke made cash withdrawals from the charity’s bank, used old letterheads from her son’s company to produce bogus invoices, made payments for courses and training days that didn’t exist and used the charity’s money to buy items she was not entitled to.

All the offences took place between over five years starting in 2013. In March 2018, she used £2,500 of the charity’s money to put a deposit down on a new Ford Focus.

Clarke, of Higher Shady Lane, Bromley Cross, had employed her grandson, of the same address, without any permission but it was unclear exactly what he did.

In January 2018, he started a new job but continued to receive wages from the charity and then began to claim sick pay after he said he was involved in a car crash.

Suspicions were raised in July 2018 and in a victim impact statement read to court, a spokesman for the charity said staff had been “devastated” by Clarke’s actions, with the charity almost being forced to close.

“It was a selfish act which showed contempt for the charity,” said a spokesman.

As part of her sentence Clarke was electronically tagged and given a 90-day curfew.

“What you did is deplorable and I think you know that," the sentencing judge, Timothy Stead, told her “You have lost your good character and good standing and I know you feel shame about that.”

Schofield-Clarke was also given a 90-day curfew and has been ordered to hand over £2,961 in compensation.

Share this post