Man stole charity donations

Man stole charity donations

5 July 2017

A DUNDRUM man stole thousands of pounds destined for the Help for Heroes charity, a court has been told.

Thirty six year-old Stephen James Glennie stole £5,225, raised at a charity event in Ballykinlar army camp last July and destined for the charity that raises money for wounded military personnel and their families.

Glennie, of Carrigvale, was sentenced to 200 hours’ community service when he appeared at Downpatrick Court on Thursday and ordered to repay the money to the Help for Heroes charity, Prosecution lawyer Sean O’Neill told the court that Glennie helped to organise a charity airsoft event in Ballykinlar in July, 2016. Airsoft is a game or sport where those taking part eliminate their opponents by hitting them with non-metallic pallets, launched from replica weapons. It has been described as a more serious version of paintball.

During the event, £5,225 was raised through tickets and raffle sales and the money was given to Glennie to pass on to Help for Heroes, Mr O’Neill said.

Suspicions about the defendant were aroused when people started posting about Glennie on various airsoft-related websites, warning others not to buy items from him. 

It was also discovered that no money had ever been handed over to Help for Heroes from the charity airsoft event, last Thursday’s court was told.

When police spoke to Glennie about the matter, he said that he had run into some financial difficulties with his online airsoft trading business after the charity event, so he “dipped into” the money raised for Help for Heroes. 

He told police that although he intended to repay the money, he eventually used it all. 

Glennie’s solicitor said his client, a father of three, had started a business selling airsoft and paintball equipment. 

When the business “fell on hard times,” he used the charity money to pay expenses.

The defence solicitor told the court his client “had absolutely no intention of permanently depriving” the charity of the funds that had been raised for it.

The solicitor also pointed out that Glennie had been “shunned” in the local airsoft community as a result of this incident.

“This is a particularly mean type of offence,” District Judge Mr Greg McCourt told the defendant.

The judge sentenced Glennie to community service and ordered him to repay £5,225 to Help for Heroes.

“If you don’t pay that, you’ll be going to prison,” Judge McCourt told Glennie.

“The way you’ll re-establish yourself in the community is if you pay this money back.”