Woman who defrauded cancer charity and council to hand back £53,000 - or spend more time in jail

A fraudster who took part in a scam which took money from a cancer charity and a council has been ordered by a judge to hand over tens of thousands of pounds to pay for her crimes. Lynn Middleton was jailed for 18 months in October, after admitting her role in the conspiracy.

Alex Hannam Lynn Middleton at court during an earlier hearing

Now, the 50-year-old has been back in court for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The hearing was told Middleton and two other women conspired to take money from Oadby and Wigston Borough Council and Leicester charity Coping With Cancer.

The prosecutor, Paul Prior, said it was now agreed that Middleton, of Arbor Road, Croft, had benefitted to the tune of £53,235 and said her assets, mainly equity in a property, would cover repayment. Recorder Graham Huston ordered that sum should be handed over within three months otherwise Middleton would be jailed for a further eight months.

Mr Prior said that Oadby and Wigston Borough Council would be refunded £35,047. Coping with Cancer - now called Sue Young Cancer Support - would be refunded £4,123. The balance will remain as court-confiscated proceeds.

The frauds, committed between 2012 and 2014, took investigators four years to unravel. During a crown court hearing last year, Middleton gave prosecution evidence in the trial of co-defendant, Kalvinder Garcha - a qualified solicitor and the then head of Oadby and Wigston's corporate resources department - with whom Middleton shared several thousands of pounds of defrauded cash.

At the time of the offending, Middleton worked in the council's HR department - and both defendants used their positions to set up the fake profile of a non-existent council employee, whose salary was paid into the bank account of Middleton's sister, Sharon Reeve - who pleaded guilty to both frauds and money laundering.

The second, similar, fraud came about when Garcha was the chair of Coping with Cancer, a small charity based in Westcotes, Leicester, and Middleton was also on the board. A fake 'consultant' profile was set up to siphon more than £3,600 in 'fees,' away from support for cancer patients, that was paid into Reeve's account.

Middleton received all the proceeds from that scam from her sister, with Garcha not receiving any of the charity money. Garcha, of Carisbroke Road, South Knighton, denied the offences but a jury convicted her of money laundering and fraud.

In October, 50-year-old Garcha was jailed for two years and six months. She is due to attend a similar proceeds of crime confiscation hearing in June - although she benefited considerably less, financially, than Middleton.

The sentencing judge, Ebraham Mooncey said, in October, that Garcha was the "driving force" behind the frauds which "eroded public trust" at a time when the borough council was making people redundant to save money.

Middleton's sister, Sharon Reeve, 52, who was living in Spain at the time, willingly allowed her identity and bank account to be used in both scams.

She transferred all the cash to Middleton - to help her sister receive remuneration for many hours of unpaid overtime at the council, the court was told at an earlier hearing.

Reeve did not financially benefit the criminal activity and, last October, was given a 10 month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 80 hours of unpaid work. She was ordered to pay £1,000 costs. Reeve will not have to face a confiscation hearing.