between increased crime and Predatory Gambling.
Bristol gambler stole from charity
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
A FORMER businessman who stole more than £120,000 from a charity so he could pay off gambling debts has been jailed.
Tyrone Pooley, 59, set up and was a trustee of the Fund for the Blind and Partially Sighted, which had been registered as a charity in 1990.
Charity Commission investigators identified a £60,000 discrepancy in the charity's accounts for 2006 – but Pooley claimed missing money was in a separate account and had not been moved because he had been ill.
Despite this alert, Pooley continued to pilfer from the fund – and in 2009 he stole a further £61,422.
But his offending eventually caught up with him and he was arrested in May last year and later pleaded guilty to two charges of theft and one of supplying false information to the Charities Commissioner.
Pooley, of Whiteladies Road, Clifton, was jailed for two years and eight months at Warwick Crown Court.
Alka Brigue, prosecuting, said that Pooley had been a trustee of the Fund for the Blind and Partially Sighted, which had been registered as a charity in 1990.
In 2003 solicitors Varley-Hibbs were responsible for dealing with the legacy of a woman whose will stipulated that the balance of her estate should go to charity.
The executors decided the £166,422 should go to the Fund for the Blind and Partially Sighted, so the money was paid to the charity, which is based at the Coventry University Technology Park in Coventry, over a period from March 2003 until May 2009.
But in 2008 Jonathan Cooper, an investigator for the Charity Commission, identified a discrepancy in the charity's accounts for 2006, which did not appear to tally with the money it had been paid via Varley-Hibbs.
When Pooley, who had stolen £60,000 from the Fund for the Blind and Partially Sighted during 2006, was contacted he wrote back to the Charity Commissioner falsely asserting that the funds were in a separate bank account.
He said he had not put it into the charity's account due to illness, and would do so in due course – but in fact he had used the money himself and withdrawn cash from the charity.
But even the interest of the Charity Commission did not stop Pooley taking more from the fund – and Miss Brigue said that in 2009 he stole a further £61,422.
When he was arrested in May last year Pooley accepted he had withdrawn large sums of money to fund his gambling addiction, most of it at a casino while living in Brighton.
But he stressed that cheques signed by fellow trustee Amanda Ryan from the charity's accounts had been for legitimate purposes and had nothing to do with his offences.
Miss Brigue said that in 2009 Pooley was given a 45-week suspended sentence for cheating at gambling by manipulating a technical fault with an electronic roulette wheel to obtain £39,100, in a marathon 15-hour session at a Southampton casino.
Tom Walkling, defending, conceded it was "hard to think of a higher degree of trust".
But he said that the thefts took place following a "terrible personal breakdown" for Pooley.
"He was the owner and director of a business in Coventry; rather a successful business, which allowed him to set up a charity and try to give a little back to the community," he said.
"For 15 years prior to these offences he ran the charity in his own time and did a lot of good.
"But his business burned down in 2003, and he discovered he was under-insured. As a result he was declared bankrupt, and he lost his business and lost his home."
Pooley moved away to rented accommodation in Brighton, where his loss of money and status led to the offence there.
"He has had a gambling addiction all his life. That led him to think he could use the money donated to the charity to try to rebuild his fortunes and then pay back the money. He genuinely believed he was going to win every time he gambled."
Mr Walkling added that Pooley now works for a charity in Bristol, where he recruits fund raisers but is not involved with handling money.
Judge Alan Parker told Pooley: "I accept you set up a charity about 20 years ago with the best of intentions.
"I am told you had been addicted to gambling nearly all your adult life. I'm not sure about that, but you are addicted to the thrill of leading an extravagant life."
The identity of the charity Pooley has been working for in Bristol was note disclosed in court.
The fraudster's details appear on an online poker database, which lists tournaments he took part in over a 16-year period up until last September.
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-gambler-stole-charity/story-16738466-detail/story.html
Tyrone Pooley, 59, set up and was a trustee of the Fund for the Blind and Partially Sighted, which had been registered as a charity in 1990.
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Tyrone Pooley
Despite this alert, Pooley continued to pilfer from the fund – and in 2009 he stole a further £61,422.
But his offending eventually caught up with him and he was arrested in May last year and later pleaded guilty to two charges of theft and one of supplying false information to the Charities Commissioner.
Pooley, of Whiteladies Road, Clifton, was jailed for two years and eight months at Warwick Crown Court.
Alka Brigue, prosecuting, said that Pooley had been a trustee of the Fund for the Blind and Partially Sighted, which had been registered as a charity in 1990.
In 2003 solicitors Varley-Hibbs were responsible for dealing with the legacy of a woman whose will stipulated that the balance of her estate should go to charity.
The executors decided the £166,422 should go to the Fund for the Blind and Partially Sighted, so the money was paid to the charity, which is based at the Coventry University Technology Park in Coventry, over a period from March 2003 until May 2009.
But in 2008 Jonathan Cooper, an investigator for the Charity Commission, identified a discrepancy in the charity's accounts for 2006, which did not appear to tally with the money it had been paid via Varley-Hibbs.
When Pooley, who had stolen £60,000 from the Fund for the Blind and Partially Sighted during 2006, was contacted he wrote back to the Charity Commissioner falsely asserting that the funds were in a separate bank account.
He said he had not put it into the charity's account due to illness, and would do so in due course – but in fact he had used the money himself and withdrawn cash from the charity.
But even the interest of the Charity Commission did not stop Pooley taking more from the fund – and Miss Brigue said that in 2009 he stole a further £61,422.
When he was arrested in May last year Pooley accepted he had withdrawn large sums of money to fund his gambling addiction, most of it at a casino while living in Brighton.
But he stressed that cheques signed by fellow trustee Amanda Ryan from the charity's accounts had been for legitimate purposes and had nothing to do with his offences.
Miss Brigue said that in 2009 Pooley was given a 45-week suspended sentence for cheating at gambling by manipulating a technical fault with an electronic roulette wheel to obtain £39,100, in a marathon 15-hour session at a Southampton casino.
Tom Walkling, defending, conceded it was "hard to think of a higher degree of trust".
But he said that the thefts took place following a "terrible personal breakdown" for Pooley.
"He was the owner and director of a business in Coventry; rather a successful business, which allowed him to set up a charity and try to give a little back to the community," he said.
"For 15 years prior to these offences he ran the charity in his own time and did a lot of good.
"But his business burned down in 2003, and he discovered he was under-insured. As a result he was declared bankrupt, and he lost his business and lost his home."
Pooley moved away to rented accommodation in Brighton, where his loss of money and status led to the offence there.
"He has had a gambling addiction all his life. That led him to think he could use the money donated to the charity to try to rebuild his fortunes and then pay back the money. He genuinely believed he was going to win every time he gambled."
Mr Walkling added that Pooley now works for a charity in Bristol, where he recruits fund raisers but is not involved with handling money.
Judge Alan Parker told Pooley: "I accept you set up a charity about 20 years ago with the best of intentions.
"I am told you had been addicted to gambling nearly all your adult life. I'm not sure about that, but you are addicted to the thrill of leading an extravagant life."
The identity of the charity Pooley has been working for in Bristol was note disclosed in court.
The fraudster's details appear on an online poker database, which lists tournaments he took part in over a 16-year period up until last September.
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-gambler-stole-charity/story-16738466-detail/story.html
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