Charity worker stole more than £51,000 from foundation

Bradford Crown Court heard how Sam McDonnell was able to defraud Bradford City Community Foundation of fees it received from parents who paid for their children to attend football camps.

The charity only realised something was wrong when more children began turning up than had paid.

Prosecutor Victoria Barker said McDonnell, now 24, of Maltings Road, Wheatley, Halifax, had worked with the self-funded charity as a volunteer from the age of 15 before becoming a permanent member of staff as head of communications.

McDonnell walks out of Bradford Crown Court after being sentenced (Image: Newsquest)

How the fraud unfolded 

His responsibilities included managing the website and social media output. He had access to the financial side of the website along with the CEO.

Among the ways in which the charity created revenue was by running football camps, which were advertised via social media. Payment was made direct using credit or debit cards, or via Paypal. The email linked to payments was that of the CEO.

On May 4, 2021, McDonnell asked for a temporary change to be made to the email and altered one letter. However, it was never changed back.

He then set up a new Paypal account using the misspelt email and attached it to the football camps’ payment system.

Miss Barker said: “In effect he had sole access to funds coming in from parents paying for the football camps using Paypal.

“Bookings were shown on the audit trail, but payments were not.”

In June/July 2022 the CEO noticed that the number of children attending did not seem to match the payments received.

When asked about the anomaly McDonnell said payments were delayed. He was asked the same question again six months later and gave the same answer.

Shortly afterwards he took time off work for stress.

His line manager took over his role and asked for full access. When he failed to assist, she became suspicious and obtained access via different means.

She identified irregularities with payments and the false email address was discovered.

Miss Barker said: “This defendant was transferring the money that was paid into the Paypal account into his own personal bank account.”

Police contacted after disciplinary hearing 

At a disciplinary hearing McDonnell admitted stealing the charity’s money and was dismissed with immediate effect. The police were contacted.

He made a full admission to the police, with the full figure that he had stolen emerging as £51,647.74. The last transaction took place on March 28, 2023.

In a later interview, McDonnell accepted taking the money but denied that he purposefully set up and misspelt the email account so that he could steal the cash.

He later pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position.

Miss Barker said the impact on the charity was not just financial as McDonnell’s actions had impacted other members of staff who had experienced “a large amount of stress and upset”.

And whilst much of the money had been repaid via insurance the charity was still out of pocket as it had been asked to pay a £5,000 excess.

She said McDonnell had asked via email whether he could work up a payment plan to pay back the money that he caused the charity to lose.

Mitigating, Shufqat Khan said at the time the fraud started in 2021 McDonnell had left the family home and moved to a flat in Leeds with his partner, with whom he was in a “volatile” relationship.

His lifestyle involved cocaine and alcohol and when the relationship broke down, he used socialising “to fill the void” as he was lonely.

He had also suffered from some mental health issues.

'He wants to put right what he did wrong' 

He said McDonnell had a sense of “having betrayed his colleagues and others” and that “he is aware of the impact he has had, and he wants to put right what he did wrong.”

He described McDonnell as “a young man who made a huge error when he was 20 at the time, and he has learned from it.”

Sentencing McDonnell to 21 months imprisonment suspended for two years, Mr Recorder Patrick Palmer said he considered his age when he offended, his willingness to repay money, his lack of previous convictions, and his remorse and shame.

On that basis he said he was “just prepared” to suspend the prison sentence.

He ordered McDonnell to pay compensation of £5,000 plus court costs of £320 at £1,000 a month, to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work, and to undertake 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.