Worker jailed for stealing from Grenfell fund, NHS

LONDON: A former Kensington and Chelsea council employee who stole more than £60,000 from a Grenfell victims’ fund and used it for gambling and pampering sprees has been jailed.

Jenny Mcdonagh also took tens of thousands of pounds of public money from the NHS, bringing the total value of her fraudulent activity to £97,115.

The 39-year-old, who went on luxury holidays to Middle East and Los Angeles and dined in expensive restaurants, WAS JAILED FOR IVE-AND-A-HALF YEARS at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday.

Judge Robin Johnson told her: “You knew exactly what these funds were for and the importance of them for the residents.”

“The scale of your dishonesty in this fraud beggars belief.”

“I DO NOT KNOW YOUR CURRENT INANCIAL position but I very much hope the funds can be recovered from you.”

Mcdonagh started working for Kensington and Chelsea council’s dediCATED GRENFELL TOWER INANCE TEAM IN October 2017, after the disaster claimed the lives of 72 people and made many more homeless.

POLICE SAID MCDONAGH STOLE IVE pre-paid credit cards intended to support survivors and arranged for them to be topped up from the council’s Grenfell funds.

She then used the cards to withdraw cash and make personal purchases, including meals out, cinema trips, hair and beauty treatments and clothes, to a total value of £61,231.

Mcdonagh also used them to deposit £39,945 into her bank account, where transactions included £32,000 thousands of pounds spent on gambling websites – racking up around £16,000 in losses.

Trips to Paris and Iceland were bought, along with purchases in high street shops including “frivolous items.”

Colleagues told investigators that Mcdonagh “always had very vocal views of the Grenfell fraudsters, often talking openly about how disgusted she was with these people and that what they were doing was awful.”

One said: “Jenny would be very outspoken about the money the council were paying out to people. She would complain about the amounts of money being paid. To be then taking money from them is appalling.”

Her crimes were discovered when a survivor came forward to claim a PRE-PAID CARD ONLY TO IND THAT THOUsands of pounds had already been spent on it.