Daily Mail
September 4, 2007
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=479843&in_page_id=1770
United Kingdom — An accountant who stole £70,000 from two churches to fund his addiction to gambling and stamp collecting has been jailed for 16 months.
Derek Klein, 53, took the cash from bank accounts over 23 years while he was a treasurer of two local parochial church councils.
He admitted stealing £57,000 from 15th century St Andrew's Church at Bacton near North Walsham, Norfolk, between 1984 and last January Klein also pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing £13,000 from St Peter's church at nearby Ridlington over 14 years from 1993.
He was finally caught after the rev Richard Hines, the priest in charge of the churches, became suspicious about missing cash.
Klein of Ridington who worked as a self-employed accountant and had a stamp dealing business hid his dishonesty for years with a complicated web of lies He claimed he had put money in a high interest account in Jersey after church officials gave him permission to invest the cash as he saw fit.
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| Derek Klein admitted stealing ?57,000 from St Andrew's Church in Norfolk |
But Norwich Crown Court heard how Norfolk Police found that no such account existed and Klein had siphoned off cash for himself.
An investigation showed that he had spent £350,000 on laying bets with two firms over recent years and only won back about ten per cent of it.
The court heard that he made many of his huge losses on an internet gambling site where he called himself The Bishop as an on-line nickname.
Klein also bought a stamp dealing business selling first day covers to collectors, but he failed to pay £40,000 of the agreed price of £100,000.
Recorder Stuart Bridge told Klein that he faced a new hearing in December to have some of his assets seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
He told him: "You lied to cover your tracks. Your problem is clear, an addiction to gambling which you found extremely difficult to control." The recorder said that parochial church councils were "one of the friendliest environments" from which to steal because of their trusting nature.
The court heard that Klein had "sole responsibility" for the day to day management of the council accounts and was trusted by his fellow councillors All the money was raised by the two parishes through events including fetes as well as gifts and grants from individuals and organisations.
David Wilson, defending, said Klein was of previous good character and had previously been well regarded in his community.
He said Klein now felt that his actions had brought "a great deal of shame" on himself and his wife. Mr Wilson added: "The money was not being spent on holidays and expensive vehicles. It has been gambled and frittered away.
"He has asked me to say 'sorry'. He has let a great number of people down." Mr Wilson said Klein had managed to repay £15,000 to the churches since his last court appearance in July and intended to pay back the entire £70,000.
The Rev Hines, priest in charge of the parishes for the last four years, said: "It has been a miserable and time consuming business knowing that trust has been abused, that valuable church funds were misused for several years and trying to uncover the truth of all that has been going on.
"But I am very grateful indeed for the efficient and discreet way in which the police have pursued their investigations on our behalf.
"I hope now that as well as the PCCs recovering some of their missing funds, the opportunity for apology and repentance and making a new start will be sincerely expressed.
"Any PCC carries a trust on behalf of the parish it represents to administer church funds in its possession with clarity and absolute integrity.
"Both councils deeply regret failures in that respect brought about by the deceptive practices of Derek Klein. Each has learned painful lessons and continues planning to ensure such things are never able to occur again." Stamp dealer Mark Sargent of Hornchurch, Essex, said Klein still owed him £40,000 for the stamp business that he sold him July 2004.
He said: "He is widely known in stamp dealing circles as a problem payer, although in the past people managed to get money out of him. "He agreed to buy my business for £100,000, but I only eventually saw £60,000 "He used to deal in first day covers and ran the stamp dealing business alongside his accountancy work.
"His employee was owed thousands of pounds because Klein claimed that he could not afford to pay him. "But at the same he was spending £3,000 to £5,000 buying stamps on ebay every month. His eyes were bigger than his belly.
"He was obsessed with buying stamps - not to keep for himself, but to sell on as a dealer. What he had was a compulsive disorder. He was a compulsive buyer who couldn't stop himself "I know people who have got divorced, lost their house, but they can't give up their precious stamp collection."
A Ridlington villager, who asked not to be named, said: "He was basically an idiot who thought he could make a fortune from stamps and gambling. He lived in a fantasy world." Another local added: "There was outright disgust at the thefts and he annoyed people further because he didn't appear to care less.
"He was blasi, full of himself and these court proceedings up until before the sentencing didn't seem to have phased him.
"I am quite shocked he has been sent to jail, but there will be people in the village who will welcome it."
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