Thieving police chief walks free
Defying the years…Christie in white at the weekend and, inset, in 1984 A POLICE chief who swindled thousands of pounds from a school PTA and a Scout group has avoided a jail term.
Superintendent Andrew Carr, 47, stole £14,000 while he was treasurer for both groups. But he walked away with a 12-month suspended prison sentence.
Carr, who had served with Wiltshire Police since 2004, was sacked after a disciplinary hearing in May.
He took £7,259 from Orchid Vale Primary School PTA in Swindon and £6,742 from the 7th Swindon Scouts, over 18 months.
Most of the money was taken from fundraising events such as Christmas and Halloween parties, Bournemouth Crown Court was told.
Carr would rush off with the money to “count” it and forged signatures to cash cheques while also getting people to sign blank cheques, which he then filled in.
Carr would then take money from one group to repay the other. He also made up a scrutineer’s report to the Scouts’ committee and an independent examiner’s report for trustees to cover his tracks.
He had been treasurer of the Scout group since 2008 and of the PTA since 2007 but suspicions were raised last September and a police investigation was launched.
Carr pleaded guilty to 11 offences relating to fraud by abuse of position, forgery and false accounting. Joe Templeton, prosecuting, said: “The innocent people who played no part in what he was doing could very well have become implicated in criminal offences.
“They were members of the community who volunteered to help and he abused the trust that they and everybody else put in him. Not only did he risk his own reputation but that of innocent people too.
Guy Gozem, defending, said Carr had struggled financially since 2011 and was in a fragile mental state after the death of his brother in 2013. He joined the police in 2004 after working in the hotel industry and was “one of those individuals regarded suitable for the higher potential development scheme”.
He had lost his career and was taking anti-depressants. Mr Gozem added: “He has been on the verge of taking his life on two occasions.”
Judge Brian Forster said: “What stands out is that everyone has been bewildered by what you have done. You’ve betrayed the trust of your family, your community and friends. You worked as a superintendent so the need for honesty was required every day.
“You covered up what you were doing and you told lies about how much money was going in and out of these accounts.”