A community charity’s former treasurer has been jailed for stealing £30,000 from it as part of a wider £155,000 fraud.
Charlotte Young, 45, of Griffin Lane, Aylesbury, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on Friday for offences at the Buckinghamshire charity and a social club between 2015 and 2023.
Young, sentenced at Amersham Crown Court, was the treasurer and accountant of the Long Crendon Village Association where she stole £29,489 from the village hall charity.
She also pocketed £125,681 from the Long Crendon Community Social Club, described as a registered society on Companies House.
Young pleaded guilty to two counts of theft by an employee having been arrested in October 2023 and charged two years later.
She had a previous fraud conviction, which the small charity’s chair Paul Davies told Civil Society had gone undetected after Young was recommended by a mutual friend.
Her appointment came just as Davies had assumed his role, with the charity trying to save money, he said.
Davies added that Young had used her expertise in fraud to deceive trustees. “We as volunteers wouldn’t pick up that [level of] fraudulent activity,” he said. “She knew what she was doing, she was very smart in how she did it.”
The chair added that the charity’s trustees had “learned from our mistakes” after not carrying out a background check on Young.
Systematic abuse of trust
Duncan Wynn, Thames Valley Police central fraud unit detective inspector, said Young had “systematically exploited the position of trust she was placed into and stole over £150,000 of money which was raised by the community for charitable purposes".
He added: “These selfish acts have left a huge hole in much-needed community funds.”
Wynn said police were aiming to ensure as much of the stolen money as possible was returned to the village association and social club.
Long Crendon Village Association is a small charity which had a total income of £16,801 in the financial year ending 31 March 2025.
This was more than double its total expenditure that year of £8,020.
Despite the theft, Davies said his charity was now in a healthy financial position with money expected back after the police investigation.
Both the Long Crendon Village Association, the charity, and the Long Crendon Community Social Club operate within The Old School community centre on High Street in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. The village association was established to provide facilities for youth clubs, sports and educational activity groups within Long Crendon.
Davies said he felt responsible when the bank first notified him of the fraudulent activity, but that people in the community had been “very sympathetic”.
