Fundraising fraudster father has sentence reduced as ‘act of mercy’

20 Feb 2014 News

A man who was charged with stealing nearly £1m from children’s cancer funds has had his sentence cut after three judges heard his prison sentence was having a “harmful effect” on his son.

Royal Courts of Justice

A man who was charged with stealing nearly £1m from children’s cancer funds has had his sentence cut after three judges heard his prison sentence was having a “harmful effect” on his son.

Kevin Wright, 50, was convicted of ten counts of theft and two of fraud at Nottingham Crown Court last September. He had stolen money from the funds which included one set up for his own son. Wright’s sentence was cut from five to four years at London’s Criminal Appeal Court at the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday as an “act of mercy”.

The Exeter Express and Echo reported that Lord Justice Treacy said: "It is perfectly plain to us that father and son were very close and that the father devoted very substantial energies in looking after and seeking treatment and help for his ill son.

"It is clear, and we accept, that Bobby has been affected by his father's absence - we accept that it has been a stressful experience for the child, in circumstances where it is important that he remains stress free.

"There is some evidence before us that there has been a positive and harmful effect on that child, as a result of the deprivation for him of his father's company."

Wright, who moved to Staffordshire from Devon, set up a number of appeals for sick children and is said to have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds between 2005 and 2008. One of the funds, the Bobby Wright Cancer Fighting Fund, was set up for his son who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2005.

Wright had sold raffle tickets through a call centre in his Devon home, had collection boxes and allowed donations through websites. However, money went straight into his own personal bank account. After his son recovered from the cancer, no longer needing the treatment that the Bobby Wright Cancer Fighting Fund was fundraising for, Wright kept the money raised for his own business ventures.

Lord Justice Treacy said that the original sentence could in no way be criticised, but evidence provided by the son’s therapist showed a deterioration in his physical health.

He said: "We therefore have come to the conclusion that, in the circumstances as they are before us now, and solely as an act of mercy in relation to the well-being of the young child, we are prepared to countenance a reduction in the sentence.”