Bogus ‘Help for Heroes’ collector jailed

A BOGUS charity collector who splashed out donations intended for injured servicemen and women on drinking and gambling was yesterday sentenced to a year in prison.

Thomas Richards, 27, also used money he had collected for Help for Heroes to pay for overnight stays at luxury hotels.

The fake street collector stole a total of £2,000 he had been given to aid the recovery of wounded soldiers, Oxford Crown Court heard.

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Judge Mary Jane Mowat said Richards should never have been allow­ed to collect for Help for Heroes and called into question the charity’s vetting process, calling it “ramshackle” .

In January 2011, Richards registered to became a street collector with the charity and over the next two months spent the money he collected on himself.

He raised a large amount of the money pretending to take part in a charity bike ride from Cape Wrath to Land’s End, which was described by Judge Mowat as “fanciful”, and spent out more than £1,000 on a new bike and cycle accessories.

Richards even claimed he was on compassionate leave from the army after serving in “the Far East”, though he had never joined the forces.

Judge Mowat told him: “The truth of the matter is that you have been a lifelong offender, somebody who should never have been let loose with a collection tin.”

But Help for Heroes spokesman David Fraser said: “Anyone authorised to do a street collection must carry their fundraising certificate and each collection is followed up by our dedicated team … This one incident undermines the thousands of generous and committed fundraisers across the UK.”

Help for Heroes was launched in 2007 to raise money for British servicemen and women wounded in the line of duty.

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