FATHER JAILED FOR CANCER CHARITY THEFT

A man who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from children’s cancer charities – including one he set up to help his own son – has been jailed for five years.
Kevin Wright stole a total of £171,500 from the Bobby Wright Cancer Fighting Fund, with the cash used to fund his “interests, investments and personal lifestyle.”
The 49-year-old was found guilty of 10 counts of theft and two of fraud by false representation following a trial at Nottingham Crown Court last month, Skynews reports.
In sentencing Wright, Judge Greg Dickinson told him he was “not a latter day Robin Hood,” adding “your actions risked damaging confidence” in charitable giving.
Wright, who lived in Devon before moving to Staffordshire, set up a number of successful appeals for sick children between 2005 and 2008.
These included the Bobby Wright Cancer Fighting Fund and a company called Bobby’s Fund, set up for his son, Bobby, who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, neuroblastoma, in April 2005, at the age of three.
The funds were intended to pay for his specialist treatment overseas but after it was decided he no longer needed it, Wright turned his attention to raising money for other child cancer sufferers.
He also stole cash and credit balances from appeals he set up to raise money for cancer treatment for three-year-olds Callum Kaye and Armani Mohammad.
Jurors were told he gave £20,000 to a friend who ran a used-car business and that he put £60,000 into Premium Bonds.
Another £30,000 was used to buy the Toad In The Hole restaurant in Exeter, Devon, while a further £30,000 was invested in the Royal Oak pub in a village close to his home.
During his trial, Wright said he had wanted to help others in a similar situation after Bobby, who is now 11 and cancer-free, responded well to a variety of therapies.
But the court heard that some of the money raised went into Wright’s personal bank account.
Members of the public donated £720,000 to the Callum appeal after being told the money was being collected to pay for treatment for the child in the US. Callum was not treated overseas.
The judge told Wright: “You never intended that he would be treated in the US.”
He added that he would “not accept any suggestion that all he was doing was trying to help other children” and that it was “something more selfish and arrogant” than that.
Speaking outside court before he was sentenced, Wright said the funds were “spent on other children for the same purposes as what it was spent on my son …it was spent in the spirit in which it was raised.”
Source: Punch