Exposed: cheating church warden
Disruption on Metro after train hits man
A TRUSTED churchwarden has been spared jail after pocketing thousands of pounds of restoration funding to bankroll a lavish lifestyle.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that Steven Clark “set himself up as a pillar of the community” after moving to the small Northumberland hamlet of Alnham.
The 48-year-old became warden at 12th century St Michael and All Angels Church and headed a project to win Lottery funding and grants to restore the old building and transform it into a community hub.
But the court heard over two years Clark of Hill Top Cottage, Alnham, siphoned off more than £35,000 for himself.
The hearing was told he used church funds to buy feed for his horses, and drinks at private members’ clubs and, in one case, 76 bottles of wine for a lunch at his house.
Now the married father-of-one has been handed a suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to fraud by abuse of position.
Andrew Finlay, prosecuting, said Clark took the cash between January 1 2015 and November 27 2016.
He told the court: “In June 2015 the defendant took it upon himself to apply for Lottery funding to fund the restoration and enhance the church so it would become a centre for information and learning within the community.”
The court heard Clark opened a second bank account for church, to which he had sole access. He also had access to the general church bank account.
Mr Finlay said almost £27,000 of the grant money obtained was used towards the restoration - but Clark used a further £35,690 for his own lifestyle expenses.
The court was told Clark also submitted fraudulent receipts and invoices to organisations to secure the funding in the first place.
Clark’s deceit was uncovered when Andrew Young, the treasurer at Alnham District Council, saw items of expenditure that did not appear to be related to the church.
These included the wine and horse feed.
Mr Finlay said following Clark’s arrest, police investigated a number of cheques and withdrawals which included £800 at a local butchers’, more than £1,000 on train tickets between the North East and London, and hundreds of pounds at private members’ clubs in London.
Mr Young said the close-knit rural community had been left feeling “betrayed” by Clark’s actions.
In mitigation, Robert Woodcock QC said Clark had since “set about finding ways to satisfy the sums of money he had defrauded” and was able to immediately pay back the £35,690.
Sentencing him to two years in prison, suspended for two years, Mr Recorder Ray Singh said his reputation was “in tatters” because of his own “selfishness and greed”.
He said: “There can be no bigger breach of trust one can imagine than these particular circumstances.”
He added: “I have heard about your horses, private members’ clubs, expensive shopping trips and train journeys.”
Clark was also ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work and pay back the £35,690 he had taken.
He was also ordered to pay £1,500 in costs and a victim surcharge, with the amount to be determined. MR RECORDER RAY SINGH Alnham Church Warden Steven Clark has been exposed as a lying cheat TRAINS were halted on the Tyne and Wear Metro after a man was struck by one.
Services were suspended between Chillingham Road and St James in Newcastle after the man was hit just after 8pm on Friday near Manors station.
The station was cordoned off after the incident, and there was a large police and paramedic presence at the station.
Under the instructions of the police, Nexus stopped all Metro trains from running between Chillingham Road and St James while the emergency services worked on the tracks.
Passengers were allowed to use their Metro tickets on the Go North East No 1 bus from Wallsend.
Northumbria Police posted a tweet saying: “We’ve had a report in tonight of a man being struck by a Metro train near Manors station in Newcastle.
“Emergency services the scene.”
The North East Ambulance service said it was called at 8.05pm.
It sent an ambulance, its full hazardous area response team and a rapidresponse paramedic.
There is currently no update on the man’s condition. at