Dishonest plumber targeted nuns’ convent

NUNS who have undertaken to spend half the day in silence were targeted by a dishonest plumber who fraudulently inflated the costs of fixing the central heating in their convent.

Gary Henry had just come out of jail for previous frauds when he sent a bogus bill to the Sisters of Poor Clares.

The Sisters are a closed order who live a life of prayer and Franciscan poverty at Lynton Monastery, Devon, where their vow of silence extends from 9pm each night until the communal prayer at 8.45am the following day. Henry had carried out work at the monastery 2011. After his early release from an unrelated two-year sentence in 2016, he sent a fraudulent invoice for the work to the parish priest responsible for the Sisters’ finances.

The £10,239.76 bill inflated how many hours he had spent on the job, his hourly rate and the amount of copper piping used, and even overcharged for the VAT.

Henry went on to overcharge a pensioner for incompetent work that left her bathroom without a working shower and her drinking water potentially contaminated and dangerous by passing it through her central heating boiler. Henry, 57, of Instow, Devon, admitted fraud and two counts of contravening the requirements of professional diligence.

He was jailed for eight months, suspended for 18 months and fined £8,000 with £6,500 costs and £1,362 compensation by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

The judge told Henry: “It may be you chose the church because you thought they were a soft touch. I am told you are a changed man, but I am not convinced you have had some sort of Road to Damascus conversion.”