Ex-funeral director jailed over fraud

A FORMER funeral director who stole money from his clients and failed to carry out cremations and burials in line with regulations has been jailed for 18 months.

Scott Allan Dickey, who has been in custody since June, will be eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence.

Dickey hung his head as he was sentenced via video link to the Launceston Remand Centre yesterday.

Several of Dickey’s victims were in the Devonport Magistrates Court to see the case finalised.

The 40-year-old had previously pleaded guilty to 30 counts of stealing, eight counts of forgery and uttering, three charges of breaching the burial and cremation Act and one count of breaching bail.

Magistrate Duncan Fairley said Dickey’s offending had started soon after he bought Devonport business Lasting Memories Funeral Services — which incorporated Kentish Funerals — in 2011.

Mr Fairley said Dickey had misappropriated funds paid for prepaid funerals and other funeral services on 29 occasions and had stolen the contents of a charity box on another.

The thefts ranged from $750 from the charity box to $11,485 from one client.

In total, Dickey stole more than $126,000, most of which was paid to him for prepaid funerals.

“You repeatedly breached the trust your position bestowed on you,” Mr Fairley said.

“Your conduct was not discovered till a client wanted to change their prepaid funeral plan.”

In one instance, Dickey conducted a funeral in 2014 and told the authorities and the dead man’s family the body had been cremated.

In fact, no arrangements had been made and the body was inappropriately stored for more than a month.

Mr Fairley said victim impact statements given to the court showed this had caused the family great distress at a very vulnerable time.

The court was told Dickey had no prior record for dishonesty and was not mentally ill at the time of his offending.

The business he had bought was in trouble, however, and Dickey had tried to trade his way out of difficulty rather than facing the reality, Mr Fairley said.

“You knew what you were doing was wrong,” the magistrate told Dickey.

DIcket was also fined $3000 for breaching the Cremation and Burials Act and will need to pay back the money owed on his release.

You knew what you were doing was wrong — MAGISTRATE DUNCAN FAIRLEY