Scarisbrick man stole £20,000 from Poppy appeal funds

A Royal British Legion branch chairman who helped himself to more than £20,000 in donations to the charity's famous poppy appeal has been sentenced.

Sean Pullen was trusted with cash handed to the Liverpool branch of the charity but pocketed money before burning some of the containers in the garden of his home.

Pullen, who was described in court as "manipulative" and told lies about his own military background, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position and was handed a two-year sentence, which a judge at Liverpool Crown Court decided to suspend.

Elaine Overend, a branch volunteer who worked with Pullen, told the court he had left behind a "trail of devastation".
Pullen, of Scarisbrick, Lancashire, is now registered blind and entered court assisted by his solicitor.

Sentencing him, Judge Trevor-Jones called Pullen's crimes "a grand deceit" and that Pullen had purported to have been a member of "the esteemed parachute regiment".

"All of which proved to be entirely false," he added.

He described the Royal British Legion as "one of the much loved and iconic causes held in great affection by the public".

He continued: "When activities such as this attract inevitable publicity it then impacts on the confidence of the public in deciding whether it's safe or reliable to risk making future donations.

"By your dishonesty, your greed primarily impacted on what funds were available to help those deserving families. There was £20,000 less than there should have been."

The judge added: "To compound matters you sought to blame others for the losses you have caused, casting initial suspicion on them until it became apparent they were entirely blameless."

When the judge left the bench, cries of "Walter Mitty conman" and "robbing the dead" were heard from the public gallery.

Source BBC