A former employee who stole over £285,000 from a now-defunct youth charity has been jailed for more than two years.
Yesterday, the Sunderland Echo reported that Jodie Robson of Sunderland had been jailed for 28 months after she admitted stealing the money from the Pennywell Youth Project.
The Pennywell Youth Project, which recorded a total income of 426,000 for the year ending 31 March 2021, wound up voluntarily in November 2022 following the theft.
Removed as a charity in May 2025, it ran sessions for people aged 8-25 and worked with City of Sunderland College to deliver basic skills courses to residents.
Charity forced to close
Yesterday, Newcastle Crown Court heard that by September 2022, it had become clear that the Pennywell Youth Project had “run out of funds and money had been stolen from the bank account”.
Investigations uncovered that between January 2020 and September 2022, Robson transferred more than £460,000 from the charity into her own account.
Prosecutor Mairi Clancy said that although some of this money was spent for legitimate purposes on behalf of the charity and wages, £285,229.50 was unaccounted for.
Robson told the court that she used the cash on online gambling to try and make more money for the Pennywell Youth Project during Covid-19, at a time of financial uncertainty.
Clancy said: “The theft signalled the end of the charity. All the money was gone and in 2022 solicitors and liquidators became involved and the charity ceased to exist.”
According to Clancy, as a young person, Robson used the Pennywell Youth Project, volunteered there and later became an employee responsible for payroll and obtaining grants and funding for the charity.
28-month sentence
Judge Tom Moran sentenced Robson for 28 months, saying: “You said you were worried about the charity’s finances and decided to try and have a big win to help the charity out.
“You said you intended to pay the money back. The probation officer didn’t believe you and I’m satisfied there did come a time, probably early on, when you must have known that was never going to happen.”
Moran added: “You caused a long-established and very valuable charity to close down, with everything that involves.”
Defending Robson, Claire Anderson said she received little formal training for her various roles.
“The defendant’s logic, rightly or wrongly, was to take some of the money and use it on online gambling websites to try and get the charity to be sustainable,” Anderson said.
“For individuals like her, it was a logical way out.”
Anderson added that Robson was “genuinely remorseful and apologises to all involved in the charity”.
“She understands the anger and frustration and upset caused to each of them. She only ever did this because she cared,” Anderson added.
