‘Spiritual falling out’ led to official taking £34k church funds

‘Spiritual falling out’ led to official taking £34k church funds

12 December 2018

A “FALLING out over spiritual differences” between Killinchy Presbyterian Church and a former captain of its Boys’ Brigade company was behind the fraud of more than £34,000 of church funds, Downpatrick Crown Court heard on Monday.

A judge told David Robert Morrow (55), of Ballydorn Road, Killinchy, that he had abused his position as former treasurer of 1st Killinchy BB in an “arrogant, spiteful and mean way”.

Judge Piers Grant said that Morrow had acted on his own authority to transfer £30,167.33 out of the BB company’s account, which was run under the church’s auspices.

He was sentenced to the maximum of 200 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty to four charges of false accounting, fraud by abuse of position and two charges of fraud by false representation regarding claiming two Gift Aid sums amounting to over £4,000. 

He also admitted to three counts of transferring criminal property from the movement of the £30,167.33.

The court heard that Morrow since had paid back to the church slightly more than he used.

What emerged in court was a complex case of money being moved between 25 different bank accounts by Morrow from November 23, 2010 - May 11, 2011 after he had been removed as BB captain and treasurer of the company.

The court heard that some of the money was eventually transferred into a bank account belonging to Morrow and his brother.

Morrow continued to organise and take the lead on community youth events for the Killinchy area.

Mr David McClean, representing the Crown, told the court how Morrow, who had been a trusted captain of the BB for 19 years, had also been a treasurer of the company’s accounts for many years.

This work was done voluntary by Morrow in his own time and in his own home as he was a “trusted bank official”, according to Mr McClean.

“There was a falling out between the church and Mr Morrow over spiritual differences, leading to him being removed as BB captain in January, 2010,” said the barrister.

When another man was appointed as BB captain and treasurer, Morrow was asked by the church to hand over all relevant account information, such as membership information and child protection forms. 

Mr McClean said that in 2011, Morrow told the church that all was left in the group’s account was £12.09.

“This surprised the new treasurer as there were over 100 members who paid £25 a year in membership,” added the barrister. 

He said that this information alerted the church to examine accounts with an accountant and solicitor. Then the matter was referred to the police who interviewed Morrow 20 times, added the barrister.

Morrow was charged with fraud in 2016, initially pleading not guilty, the court heard.

He had earlier burnt two boxes of records and financial information from the BB company.

While Morrow claimed no-one from the church had called to collect the records, Mr McClean said it was done to cover up his transactions. 

Morrow’s defence barrister, Mr Conor Holmes, said that none of the money involved in the case was used for his client’s own private gain.

Mr Holmes said that £27,960.02 had been tracked by the Crown and shown to have been used by Morrow to pay for various activities for other local community groups under the umbrella name of Killinchy Activity Group.

He added that while £7,206.99 could not be shown to have been used directly for community needs, his client used the money to reimburse himself for expenses such as plane tickets to Spain for a youth trip, which he had paid for on his credit card.

His client believed for a time that even though he was no longer BB captain, he was still the treasurer.

Mr Holmes said that by pleading guilty his client had saved the court a lengthy trial and the painstaking process of going through over 4,000 pages of evidence.

He contended that the real punishment for Morrow was his loss of reputation.

“Mr Morrow has given 27 years of his life to service to the community and church. He now has a black mark against his name and he realises that this is down to his action. He did not personally benefit from this himself.”

Judge Grant said that a report from a probation officer said that Morrow did not indicate that he fully realised that he had done wrong.

In sentencing Morrow to 200 hours’ community service concurrent on all charges, Judge Grant said: “It is clear from the victim impact statements that you did cause serious harm and it had an enormous impact on the church. 

“You broke the law and you caused substantial harm and you really should be ashamed of yourself.”