Seven people have been jailed after collecting approximately half a million pounds for several charities and keeping most of the funds.
The group collected public funds under the guise that they would be donated to charities like Children in Need, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s (GOSH) Charity, the Children’s Society, the Christie Charitable Fund and Mind.
Approximately £500,000 in cash deposits were sent to the accounts of the group members, with less than 10% paid to the various charities.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that David Levi, 47, led the criminal group which involved travelling around the country collecting donations in buckets outside supermarkets.
It said it was looking to confiscate assets that the group gained from their criminal activity and put measures in place to prevent them from offending in the future.
Gang leader jailed for five years
Levi was jailed for five years after admitting to counts of fraud and money laundering at Preston Crown Court in December.
William Ormand, 64, was convicted after a trial of fraud and money laundering for three years and four months.
Martin Ebanks, 60, admitted to fraud and was jailed for 18 months.
Roy Ferguson, 63, admitted fraud and money laundering and was sentenced to two years and five months in prison.
Stephen Chesterman, 63, admitted to one count of fraud and received 22 months in prison.
Kaysha Beck, 31, received a sentence of 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
Finally, 73-year-old Howard Collins was sentenced to 28 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation (GOSH), one count of fraud (the Christie Charitable Fund) and more.
The seven members of the criminal gang received a collective 215 months in prison, or more than 17 years and nine months.
‘Deprived life-saving charities of significant amounts of money’
Hayley Cooper from the CPS said: “The actions of David Levi and the criminal group deprived life-saving charities of significant amounts of money.
“Members of the public gave their money generously and in good faith, perhaps reassured by seeing the logos of national charities. Sadly, the majority of the donations were pocketed by the defendants.
“Whenever money is collected for charity there must be absolute transparency and in bucket collections, every penny donated must go those charities.
“At the CPS, we have specialist teams to prosecute cases of serious fraud such as this and we work closely with investigators to bring perpetrators to justice.”
Charity Commission: ‘Shamefully abused the name of some of Britain’s most well-known charities’
A spokesperson for the Charity Commission for England and Wales said: “These criminals shamefully abused the good name of some of Britain’s most well-known charities and their jail sentences send a strong warning.
“Most charity fundraising is legitimate and scams of this scale are rare. But as opportunistic scammers can try to take advantage of the trust we have in charities, if you think something doesn’t seem right either report it to the charity or check if it is listed on one of three charity registers in the UK.”
Fundraising Regulator: ‘Public must check before they donate’
Gerald Oppenheim, chief executive of the Fundraising Regulator, said: “This is a particularly unusual and serious case of fraud against charities and the public, and it’s therefore encouraging to see the appropriate authorities take action and that the offenders have been brought to justice and receive custodial sentences.
“The vast majority of charity fundraising is genuine. However, fraudsters and criminals do sometimes take advantage of public generosity, particularly at times of increased giving. Common methods include fake appeal websites, email appeals that falsely use the name of genuine charities or appeals from fake charities.
“Charities perform essential work in the UK and globally all year round against a difficult economic backdrop, so we at the Fundraising Regulator want to encourage members of the public to check before they donate to feel confident that their hard-earned money reaches the causes they care about.”
Charities: ‘Undermines public trust and confidence in giving to charity’
Kathleen Miles, executive director for fundraising at Mind, said: “It’s crucial that our supporters know that their generous donations go where they're intended, and that they can be assured their money will make a genuine difference to people who are experiencing a mental health problem.
“The fraudulent actions of these individuals in the name of Mind as well as other charities, undermines public trust and confidence in giving to charity. This may lead to people being less likely to donate which will significantly hinder our ability to help those people who need us the most.”
Miles thanked DC Simon Robinson and his team for bringing the case to justice.
A BBC Children in Need spokesperson said: “We would like to extend our thanks to Lancashire Police for their tireless and thorough investigation.
“Generous individuals that donate to charity do so to make an impact on those that need it most and given the rising need that has escalated in recent years, the ones most impacted by this case are the beneficiaries of the charities affected.”
A GOSH Charity spokesperson said: “We are very grateful to the police for their work throughout this investigation and for bringing these individuals to justice.â¯This has been a long process, which we have worked very closely with the police on.
“We were shocked and disappointed to learn that money had been raised fraudulently for our charity, but would like to reassure the public that incidents such as these are thankfully very rare.
“GOSH Charity is lucky to have brilliant support from members of the public, who raise money for us legitimately by organising, donating, or taking part in fundraising activities every year to help support Great Ormond Street Hospital’s most urgent needs, over and above what the NHS can afford.”
A spokesperson for the Christie charity said: “We are appalled that someone would commit fraud under the banner of claiming to be fundraising for the Christie Charity. Our supporters are incredibly generous, kind and committed to the cause and so it is abhorrent to think that some of them donated in good faith believing the money would go directly to cancer patients, when in this instance it wasn’t the case.
“Thankfully fraud such as this is very unusual for the Christie Charity and so we would reassure supporters and fundraisers they can remain confident their donations are helping to provide life-changing and life-saving cancer treatment.
“The Christie Charity does not do door collections or telephone collections. If anyone has concerns about the validity of someone collecting on behalf of the Christie, then please contact the Christie Charity directly or the police.”
Joe Jenkins, executive director of social impact at the Children’s Society, said: “It is so disheartening and damaging when criminals abuse trust in charities to defraud the public. People generously donate to the Children’s Society, and other charities, so that we can continue to deliver vital help and support to children and young people.
“These fraudsters not only took money from kind-hearted people seeking to support good causes but also could have damaged our hard-earned trust and reputation, along with the wider charity sector.
“This is particularly poor behaviour at a time when many people are struggling with the ongoing cost of living crisis and charities like the Children’s Society are needed more than ever.”
