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BIG worker forced to repay grant theft

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 1 Jul 2009

A Big Lottery Fund employee has been forced to pay back grant money stolen from the organisation by his friend.

BIG employee Daniel Rippon was also chairman of a charity established by former BIG employee Victoria Hayward, who was last week sentenced at Exeter Crown Court to 18 months prison for stealing more than £9,000 from BIG and a further £9,500 from her other employer, airline Flybe.

Hayward, a friend of Rippon, had asked him to become chairman of a urostomy charity she set up after leaving the lottery funder.

After setting up the charity Hayward applied for and received a £9,300 grant as part of the Awards for All scheme, but soon began siphoning money off for herself and her mother – most of which was spent in Spain.

She forged Rippon’s signature on fraudulent cheques, but the chairman only became aware of any problem when he discovered the bank balance of the charity to be very low, at which point he alerted police.

But while Rippon was not involved in the theft, BIG has required him to repay the stolen grant money. He is reportedly using money left to him by his late father.

A BIG spokeswoman told Charity News Alert: “BIG is pleased the judge found Daniel Rippon an innocent party in the fraudulent acts carried out by Victoria Hayward which supports the findings of our internal investigation.

“As the chair and signatory for the grant application Daniel has accepted his legal responsibilities to repay the funds, which he is now doing.

“BIG supports staff volunteering with charities and voluntary organisations as unpaid officers or as trustees as it fits with BIG’s philosophy as a funder and as an organisation that helps those most in need.

“BIG’s conflict of interest policy means staff are not allowed to be named on any applications for funding and requires staff to declare interests in any organisations that are applying for funding.”

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