The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Action to recoup £162k embezzled by charity figure
COURT: Retired major stole to fund gambling habit
A forces charity official who embezzled more than £160,000 and squandered a lot of the cash in a Dundee casino is facing legal action to recoup the money.
Retired Major Timothy Grantham’s public image was as the respectable fundraising figurehead of a group that arranged golf days for wounded service personnel and a branch of Help for Heroes.
But behind the scenes, he was a gambler who conned his dementia-suffering mother-in-law out of her life savings to bankroll his bets at casinos such as Dundee’s Grosvenor.
Grantham, 68, right, admitted stealing £162,225 between January 2016 and February 2019 when he appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Deferring sentence for reports, Sheriff Richard Macfarlane warned
Grantham: “You are a thoroughly dishonest person.
“Be under no illusion that a custodial sentence is very much at the forefront of my mind.”
The Crown Office subsequently lodged a Proceeds of Crime action against the former Army officer to force him to pay back the money he owes.
Prosecutors have launched a bid to claw back more than £160,000 from an ex-serviceman and charity founder who stole huge sums from his mother-in-law to fund a gambling addiction.
The Crown Office has lodged a Proceeds of Crime action against retired Army officer Timothy Grantham, to force him to pay back £162,225.
Grantham – a former Help For Heroes volunteer co-ordinator in Fife – was granted bail at Dundee Sheriff Court after he admitted stealing the money from dementia sufferer Elizabeth Mcintosh.
The retired major – who also fronted a foundation to provide charitable golf days for wounded servicemen – took his mother-in-law’s life savings and blew them on bets.
By the time his wife reported him to police for embezzlement, on Valentine’s Day 2019, Grantham had squandered up to £90,000 in the Grosvenor Casino, Dundee.
In the Proceeds of Crime case, prosecutors detail how Grantham profited from his crime to the tune of £162,225, between 2016 and 2019.
The Crown accepts Grantham, who faces being jailed next month, has paid back £82,541.20 and is now looking to recoup the outstanding sum of £79,684.
The court heard how Grantham was filtering the unsuspecting pensioner’s savings through a variety of bank accounts before taking it out to gamble large sums in the casino.
The largest sums were taken from Elizabeth Mcintosh shortly before she died in April 2019.
Grantham – who set up The Grand Day Out for injured veterans with his wife Lesley – was burning his way through the money his mother-in-law had saved to pay for her care home.
Fiscal depute Lynne Mannion told the court Grantham’s con came to light after the care home tried unsuccessfully to cash several large cheques from the couple.
Lesley Mcintosh eventually walked into a police station in St Andrews and told officers her husband of 11 years had been stealing.
Sheriff Richard Macfarlane deferred sentence on Grantham and said: “You are a thoroughly dishonest person. There were breaches of trust to your late mother-in-law and to your wife.
“Be under no illusion that a custodial sentence is very much at the forefront of my mind.”
Grantham, 68, Lundin Links, Fife, admitted stealing £162,225 between January 1 2016 and February 14 2019.
He admitted stealing the money at Aikman Place, St Andrews.
Mrs Mcintosh moved to St Andrews in 2013 and was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s two years later so she moved into a care home in early 2016.
The vulnerable pensioner’s flat in St Andrews was sold for £141,500 and the money was to be used to cover her £3,640 per month care home fees..
Lesley Mcintosh’s sister made investigations, and discrepancies in the handling of her mother’s accounts were discovered.
A police probe revealed that Grantham had cleaned out the accounts.
On February 14 2019, Mrs Mcintosh told police her husband had been embezzling money and Grantham confessed to spending between £80,000 and £90,000 in the Grosvenor Casino.