Thieving boss sank charity after selling off lifeboat on eBay

A TREASURER for an inshore rescue charity has been jailed for two years for theft after she sold its £13,000 lifeboat on auction site eBay.

Roxanna Bridgland had pleaded guilty to five charges of fraud and three charges of false accounting for stealing £24,500 from Cleethorpes Rescue Service over five years.

Geraldine Kelly, prosecuting, said: “Mrs Bridgland was treasurer of the Cleethorpes Rescue Service from 2007 to 2012.

“During that time, she abused her position of trust by selling charity assets, not using proceeds for the charity and withdrawing cash for herself.

“She also claimed gift aid from the Inland Revenue by falsely making claims.”

The charity was forced to close, Hull Crown Court heard last week.

Among items sold was the charity’s £13,000 lifeboat for a knock-down price of £6,000 on eBay. Ms Kelly said Bridgland, 56, of Grimsby, engineered the resignation of the former chairman and treasurer, Peter Mason.

She took over the role and began stealing money and selling off its equipment.

Bridgland made 53 visits to pawnbroker Cash Converters with property during her offending period, including selling the charity’s mobile radios.

Questioned by Charity Commission Charity swindler Roxanna Bridgland outside court and, left, Cleethorpes Rescue Service’s lifeboat which she sold on eBay investigators, Bridgland denied all responsibility and claimed to have sold items to pay bills when donations to the charity declined.

Defending barrister Andrew Bailey said: “The charity was very poorly managed by her. It would appear that fairly swiftly she turned to dishonesty.

“Now she is penniless, surviving on benefits. She only has herself to blame in many ways.” Sentencing Judge Mark Bury called Friday a “very sad day” in Bridgland’s life.

The rescue service was set up after the deaths of three children and one adult who were cut off by sea mist on the beach in 1969.

Buster Hammond, 62, a former member of the lifeboat’s crew, said she should have been jailed for more than two years. “She deserves everything she gets,” he said.