Coleraine teacher admits £50k theft

A MUSIC tutor from Coleraine has pleaded guilty to stealing “a chose in action” worth over £50,000 from an education board and a schools symphony orchestra.

Eric William Boyd from Springwell Crescent, Macosquin, changed his plea to guilty to 11 counts of theft amounting to £56,285 at Antrim Crown Court last Tuesday.

However, he denied one count of stealing a chose in action of £22,000 belonging to The Association of Friends of the North East Ulster Schools Symphony Orchestras.

Boyd was convicted of eleven charges of “stealing a chose in action, namely a debt” from both the North Eastern Education and Library Board and The Association of Friends of the North East Ulster Schools,Symphony Orchestra on dates between June 2003 and March 2005.

The sums of money involved ranged from £1,000 to as much as £20,000.

The charges were brought under Section 1 of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969

The court was asked to consider whether the defendant had benefitted from the thefts and whether a confiscation order should be made under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to have the money recouped.

A pre-sentence report was asked for and the case was then adjourned until June 17th for the report to be prepared.

Boyd was granted continuing bail until June 17th.

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