Jail term for Newtownabbey man who defrauded children's charity of £160,000
A Newtownabbey man, who defrauded a Belfast-based children’s charity of £160,000, was handed a jail term at Belfast Crown Court on Tuesday (June 30).
Robert Moore (73), with an address listed as Circular Road, was charged with four counts of forgery, two counts of false accounting and one further count of fraud by abuse of position.
Moore pleaded guilty to the seven charges after he defrauded the trustees of Central Belfast Contact Centre between December 2009 and January 2022.
He abused his position as treasurer to write fraudulent cheques to himself, defrauding the charity of what the prosecution estimated to be £206,647.96. The defence case was that it was approximately £160,000, with £25,000 repaid.
He was sentenced to a total of 18 months imprisonment.
Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Sergeant Adams said: “This charitable organisation had, for over 20 years, provided a safe and neutral facility whereby the children of separated families could spend time with one or both parents, and sometimes other family members.
“The fraud came to light in 2022 when concerns were raised about the running of the charity’s accounts by Moore and him making a disclosure of withdrawing money from the account to another trustee.
“A police investigation commenced and it was revealed that over a period of several years Moore had fraudulently taken huge sums from the charity. This is money that would have supported this valued organisation.
“In this case, this man was trusted by a local charity to act in their best interests and manage the organisation’s finances. He failed to honour this trust and exploited funds for his own gain."