Shankill Parish Church in Lurgan
The previous treasurer of a Co Armagh church that defrauded virtually 750,000 of the parish funds to “underpin a way of life that might not pay” has been imprisoned.
Godfrey Ellis, by Clannconnel Gardens in Waringstown, declared himself responsible of two positions of fraud for abuse of place as his position as treasurer of the Shankill parish church in Lurgan.
The 55 -year -old man admitted that between July 26, 2011 and February 9, 2020, he transferred £ 643,637.31 of the Church’s checking account to his personal private and industrial accounts.
He additionally admitted that on the dates between August 18, 2015 and January 7, 2020, he made funds whole £ 102,313 on bank cards to his title. He additionally admitted the place to forge a verify on February 9, 2020.
His honor decide Patrick McGurgan KC, who described the offender as “a protracted and systematic abuse of confidence carried out by an accounting skilled in his personal church,” stated “it was” incongruous man whose solely job is to assist folks to manage his funds couldn’t accomplish that along with his personal earnings. “
Add that “what appears probably has been a nasty drawback fixing within the preliminary levels of your offense appears to have remodeled into the behavior of accessing church funds to underpin a way of life that you simply wished for your loved ones, however couldn’t afford.”
When describing the information of the case, Decide McGurgan defined that Ellis took over the accounting enterprise, Coleman and Firm, in 2005.
In 2006, he was appointed treasurer of the Church of the Parish of Shankill de Eire in Lurgan, an unpaid honorary place with “very important accountability.”
With the arrival of on-line banking, Ellis had unique entry to church accounts.
On February 11, 2020, Danske Financial institution contacted one of many parish trustees in relation to a agency that goals to be his in a verify -paying verify to Coleman and the corporate, the defendant’s firm. This administrator confirmed that he had not signed that verify.
The Minister of the Parish, Reverend Mark Harvey, had additionally been contacted in relation to his alleged signature in a verify for £ 15,000, and though he confirmed that the agency was his, declared that he didn’t acknowledge the beneficiary.
In a gathering with Danske Financial institution, it was clear that parish accounts had been, within the phrases of Reverend Harvey, “clear.”
The preliminary examination of the Church accounts instructed a common lack of £ 277,000, nevertheless, a whole overview of the accounts to the police that exposed a verifiable lack of the Church of £ 643,637.31 in direct transfers to the defendant’s companies was supplied.
There have been additionally funds with church bank card of £ 102,313.
Ellis stated that he had initially transferred cash to rectify money move issues in his personal enterprise that come up from chapter.
Nonetheless, it was the opinion of the Prosecutor’s Workplace that “though it appears more likely to have supposed to pay the funds, issues rapidly spent.”
As well as, the Prosecutor’s Workplace stated that “this was an abuse of extended and systematic belief carried out by an accounting skilled in his personal church, his parish and fellow parishioners.”
An impression assertion of the sufferer supplied by the venerable Mark Harvey, Archidiacono de Dromore and Rector of Shankill Parish, alluded to the lack of funds that have an effect on the upkeep work, which lastly results in the “excessive degree of funding they at present face to restore and renew the parish church, which is the biggest constructing of the Eire church.”
A former Slack Sacristy member summed up the overall feeling within the parish, stating that the “treason of belief is within the coronary heart of all the things.”
Decide McGurgan stated: “For me, the integrity of our Church has been questioned at a time once we wish to develop our constructing in a strategic place within the metropolis heart as a useful resource for the group basically.
“This case has thrown a shadow, which may make attainable financiers cautious when supporting us. The emotional impression of Ellis’s crimes in us as a group of the Church has been of a big vary … The severity of Godfrey Ellis’s crimes in opposition to Shankill may have simply decimated our parish.”
Decide McGurgan additionally referred to the breakdown of the defendant’s marriage.
“You have been married for about 19 years, however upon discovering this offender, your spouse began divorce procedures … [and] Your kids have misplaced religion in you since your arrest. “
He added: “Household spending was larger than their month-to-month earnings … He in contrast his offensive conduct with an habit, one through which he apparently couldn’t fail to withdraw the cash.
“Tinto that you simply deny to stay an opulent life-style, nevertheless, it’s noticed that you simply went on trip yearly, and on one event, you reserved Disneyland in Florida, though I perceive that it postponed. You accepted that you simply gave your kids all the things they wished with out excited about financial worth …”
Ellis was sentenced to 40 months for the primary crime of fraud; 34 months for the second and 20 months for the falsification cost, all to perform concurrently.
Ellis was handcuffed, a bag full with the garments that he delivered to him and took to spend the subsequent 20 months after the bars, after which he’ll flip the remaining 20 months licensed.
Register in our publication
Most learn at this time