Five people were yesterday jailed for pocketing £26,000 that they had collected for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Ringleader Gordon Coe, 65, (pictured), a former pub landlord in Southampton, was sentenced to four years at Southampton Crown Court after admitting conspiracy to defraud and concealing financial transactions. The other four were convicted by a jury and sentenced to between 15 and 20 months in prison.

Coe registered as a volunteer fundraiser for the charity in 2008 but did not stick to rules which said he could not collect pub-to-pub or enlist others. The gang used fake IDs and collecting tins with home-printed logos to collect ‘donations’ from pubs and clubs in the south of England over a three-year period. The charity received £263 from Coe. 

A suspicious member of the public reported the activity to the charity, which then contacted the police.

The Southern Daily Echo reports that in sentencing the five Judge Derwin Hope told the court that the true scale of the loss will never be known, but that there was nothing the charity could have done to prevent the theft.

A Marie Curie spokeswoman said: “We would like to reassure people that this type of incident is extremely rare and we shouldn’t let one bad apple give legitimate charity collectors a bad name. The vast majority of collectors are trustworthy and dedicated and, as a charity, we couldn’t raise the vital funds we need without them.”

And she added: “If anyone is ever in any doubt about a particular charity collector, they should ring the charity directly.”

Kim Chapman, 45, from Southampton, was jailed for 20 months for conspiracy to defraud and money laundering, while her electrician husband Ben Chapman, 43, was given 15 months for conspiracy to defraud. Pauline Hunt, 55, also from Southampton, was sentenced to a year for money laundering. Susan Christians, 65, from Dibden, Hampshire, was jailed for 18 months for conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.