Trucker’s Lee Rigby ‘fraud’
Trial told charity cash was spent on flop record
A LORRY driver who organised charity events to raise cash for Fusilier Lee Rigby’s son spent the money on a “flop” music record, a court heard.
Gary Gardner invited the murdered soldier’s widow Rebecca and son Jack to be guests of honour at truck-pull fundraisers.
He allegedly vowed to raise enough to set Jack “up for life” with high-profile events, including one at which ex-Fusiliers went round with tins collecting from crowds.
A jury heard he did raise at least £24,000 – but that none was ever given to Jack or his trust fund.
Instead, prosecutors claimed, Gardner spent cash on a music single in a bid to be a top producer, paid off his overdraft and blew more on expenses. Samuel Skinner, prosecuting, told Leicester crown court: “The defendant declared publicly that he donated £3,000 to Jack Rigby. That was untrue.”
Rebecca, 34, told jurors that neither she nor Jack, now eight, “ever received a penny” from Gardner and that he finally stopped answering calls or emails.
The court heard Gardner held a Trafalgar Square launch event for the charity single Miss You Machine in memory of Lee, 25, who was murdered near Woolwich Barracks in London in 2013.
Gardner, 56, from Medbourne, Leics, denies three counts of fraud. The trial continues.