A woman who defrauded a charity out of more than £150,000 and fled to Turkey before her sentencing hearing has been detained and brought back to the UK.
Donna Wells previously pleaded guilty to fraud offences against Young Addaction Halton, a charity which provided support to people with alcohol, drugs, or mental health issues.
Cheshire Police became involved in the case in December 2020 when it was informed of financial irregularities at the charity, relating to payments being made to unknown suppliers, petty cash payments, and card payments.
Wells was employed as the service manager and approved invoice payments on behalf of the charity.
An audit by the charity revealed a large number of payments being made by Wells, authorising the transfer of funds into four separate bank accounts not known to the charity.
Three of the accounts belonged to Wells but she also used a friend’s husband, Francis Jones, to launder some of the money through his mobile sandwich bar.
Invoices to the value of £42,800 were paid to Jones’ Butty Bar between January 2018 and September 2019.
Jones admitted the money had been dishonestly paid into his business by Wells, and he had paid £28,100 of this back to Wells’ accounts.
On 2 December 2022, he was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work.
Wells was sentenced in her absence on 5 June at Liverpool Crown Court to four years for fraud by false representation and acquiring criminal property between January 2018 and January 2020.
She had failed to appear at court on 2 December 2022 and information led police to believe she had fled to Turkey. On 18 August, Wells was detained and deported back to the UK to face sentence.
Wells appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on 22 August where she was told her four-year sentence still stands. She will also serve another four weeks for breaching bail.
‘This money belonged to a charity committed to helping people in need’
Cheshire Police detective constable Daryl Gavin said: “Not only did Wells fraudulently take a large amount of money, this money belonged to a charity committed to helping people in need.
“Instead of facing the consequences of her actions, Wells attempted to evade police before she could appear in court to be sentenced.
“But efforts continued to locate Wells, and have resulted in her being detained by Turkish authorities and deported back to the UK to be held accountable for her crimes.”
A spokesperson for the drug, alcohol and mental health charity With You (formally Addaction) said: “We deeply regret that fraud occurred in one of our services and we take this matter very seriously. It is unacceptable to manipulate a system in place to support some of society’s most vulnerable groups for personal gain. “Once alerted, we conducted a thorough internal investigation, working together with relevant authorities. We have since interrogated our processes and taken additional steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again. “Following the loss of funds, our staff continued to run services utilising the organisation’s reserve funds to do so.”
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