Facing jail, warden who stole £30k from church
A CHURCH warden faces jail after stealing more than £30,000 from church accounts to pay for a car and football season tickets.
Ian O’Hara, 54, used money from three bank accounts to lease a car, pay for a cleaner at his house and buy two season tickets to watch Coventry City.
Once his dishonesty was discovered, an agreement was initially reached with Anglican St Thomas’s church in Longford, Coventry, to repay the money.
It was only when further discrepancies came to light that police became involved. At that point, the church suspended accepting any further payments.
Trust
O’Hara, of Coventry, admitted three charges of fraud by abuse of a position of trust.
He had been due to be sentenced at Warwick Crown Court on Friday and turned up with a large bag.
But Recorder Dean Kershaw adjourned the case for further inquiries to be made, granting O’Hara bail after it was revealed he may have paid back £21,063.
Recorder Kershaw said: “That is the strongest mitigation, in my opinion, although whether it saves him in the end, I don’t know. Inquiries have revealed that some of the money was spent on a lease car, a cleaner for his house and tickets for a football club.
“It is important I know exactly how much money you have paid back.
“I would always hope that by the time I come to sentence you all the money will have been paid back.
“It is an important aspect of your mitigation.
“But I don’t want you leaving court thinking this will not be a prison sentence. This was a very bad breach of trust.
“The first sentence in my mind at the moment is an immediate custodial sentence, but I haven’t made my mind up.”
Prosecutor Graeme Simpson said O’Hara’s barrister had indicated that he had paid back a “significant amount of money”.
Mr Simpson said that he had been told that a total of £21,063 had been repaid by O’Hara but he had not been able to verify that.
He asked for an adjournment for further inquiries to be made.
Mr Simpson said some of the money was spent on two Coventry season tickets, one for OHara and one for his sister.