A former trustee of the Fund for The Blind and Partially Sighted has pleaded guilty to charges of theft and providing false information.  

Tyrone Pooley faces two charges of theft from the charity and lying to the Charity Commission about its accounts after the Commission raised concerns with the police.

A report by the Coventry Telegraph on the case, currently being held at Coventry Crown Court advises that Pooley drew money from the organisation whilst he was a trustee to support his gambling addiction, the court reportedly heard: first £60,000 in 2006, then a further £61,422 in 2009. In between this, he is alleged to have lied to the Charity Commission when he failed to transfer the sum of his first theft to a designated account in December 2008.

Pooley has been released on bail to be confined to his Bristol home, and the Judge is also proceeding with the Proceeds of Crime Act, in an attempt to retrieve the money Pooley stole.

Fund For The Blind And Partially Sighted was registered in 1990 but disbanded in November last year; it is marked as ‘Removed’ on the Charity Commission website as of 28th November 2011. Civilsociety.co.uk could not reach anyone formerly involved with the organisation for comment.

Charity Commission investigation

Michelle Russell, head of investigations and enforcement for the Charity Commission, said that the sector regulator welcomes the guilty plea. “Charity trustees have responsibilities to act in the best interests of the charity, and the theft of charitable funds is absolutely unacceptable," she said.

“As a result of this conviction, Mr Pooley is disqualified from acting as trustee in the future.”

Russell revealed that the Commission opened an investigation into the Fund for the Blind and Partially Sighted in November 2010.

“We uncovered evidence to suggest that Mr Pooley, one of two trustees of the charity, had misappropriated charity funds and supplied the Commission with false and/or misleading information.

“We reported these concerns to the police, which gave rise to the criminal investigation and prosecution. We removed the charity from the Register of Charities on November 28 last year.”

Tyrone Pooley is a known gambler and appeared on series one of Channel 4's Late Night Poker.