UNITED KINGDOM
Chronicle Live
BY LAURA HILL
A Roman Catholic priest who stole £50,000 from his parish after falling in love with his housekeeper and lavishing gifts on her family has been spared jail.
Judge Christopher Prince said Father John Reid’s fraud was an “aberration” which persisted over 40 months while he was in charge of St Cuthbert’s Church in Chester-le-Street , County Durham.
The portly, white-haired 70-year-old priest was handed an 18-month suspended sentence at Durham Crown Court after he admitted fraud by abuse of position at a previous hearing.
He has agreed to pay back the £50,000 within three months.
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