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'Respectable' church warden stole £15,000 from villagers
ANGRY villagers have spoken of their shock to find out that a respectable and trusted member of their community had secretly been stealing thousands of pounds from right under their noses.
John Collier pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of stealing cheques totalling 15,000 from the trustees of Monks Kirby Village Hall.
The disgraced church warden, who was the treasurer of the village hall committee at the time of those thefts between July 2005 and May 2006, also admitted stealing 2,900 in cash during 2006 and 1,320 the following year.
In addition Collier, 65, pleaded guilty to two charges of stealing cheques made payable to himself for 4,000 in June 2005 and 750 in July 2006 from the Friends of St. Edith's Church in Monks Kirby (pictured right).
Collier also admitted stealing 1,520 in cash from St. Edith's Parochial Church Council, of which he was a member.
And he pleaded guilty to a further charge of stealing a cheque from the Joseph Boswell Charity account and asked for eight other offences to be taken into consideration when he is sentenced.
Speaking to the Rugby Advertiser after the court case Phillip Morris-Jones, Warwickshire county councillor for Monks Kirby, said: "As a local churchgoer knowing how badly the church is in need of funds and knowing this white collar crime has taken place in our midst is
particularly distressing.
"Enormous sums of money were stolen and we are all deeply shocked by this."
The thefts came to light in December 2007 and Collier has since moved to Wales. Villagers say although they have known about it for two years they are still shocked.
One Monks Kirby resident said: "We are all still stunned. It's incomprehensible that an apparently good man deceived us all.
"We were all so fond of him and trusted him. He was always there and wanting to help at all these functions.
"We feel there must have been some dreadful episode to cause all this. All the money was raised through village events - they were huge amounts but we won't let this stop us.
"Everyone has pulled together and are doing our best to pull the funds back up again."
The case was adjourned for pre-sentence, psychiatric and medical reports to be prepared on Collier, who was granted bail by Judge Christopher Hodson.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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