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Ex-treasurer pleads guilty to charity theft and fraud charges

Governance | Kirsty Weakley | 27 Jul 2012

The former treasurer of an arts festival has admitted defrauding the charity of £25,000 when he appeared in court this week.

Christopher Bodger pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and theft between 1 September 2009 and 11 August 2011 from the Torbay and South West of England Festival. He will be sentenced at Exeter Crown Court on 16 August.

Trustees of the charity issued a statement which said: “For almost 15 years, Christopher Bodger was a trusted member of our team and a diligent steward of our resources.

“But in recent times he encountered personal financial difficulties and sought to resolve these difficulties in a way that demonstrated a complete disregard for the charity, its hard-working volunteers and the children and young people we seek to serve.”

Magistrates heard that Bodger’s failure to bank £13,000 in 2010/2011 and £12,000 in 2010/2011, and that he did not send the charity’s accounts to the accountants for either year, was discovered last November when a trustee became suspicious and checked the charity’s bank accounts, reported Devon's Herald Express.

Bodger is also the chairman of local residential care home Primley House and the Paignton Hospital League of friends. He is a chartered surveyer, employed at Devon-based firm Commerical Property Surveyors. 

According to information held by the Charity Commission, the festival had an income of £29,496 for the year end June 2009 and £24,389 for 2010. Its annual return and accounts for 2011 are 88 days overdue.

The trustees added that a member of Bodger's family had donated £5,000 and that the festival was "in talks to recover more".

The annual performing arts festival has been running since 1941 recently held its 72nd festival. In the statement the trustees said: “We look forward with confidence to many more successful festivals in the future, despite these unfortunate events.”