Sean Pullen, a former Royal British Legion branch chairman, was sentenced for stealing over £20,000 from the charity's poppy appeal. He pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position and received a suspended sentence.
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 the money before burning some of the containers in the garden of his home. Pullen, who was described in court as being 'manipulative' and having told lies about his own military background, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position.
He 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' after the funds began to go missing between October and December 2018. Pullen, of Scarisbrick, Lancashire, is now registered blind and entered court assisted by his solicitor. James Rae, prosecuting, told the court although Pullen's admission was limited to £20,000, he could have defrauded the charity by up to £70,000. Ms Overend first raised the alarm when the Royal British Legion told her that only £20,000 had been raised by the Liverpool branch in 2018, because Pullen had told volunteers 'that they had in fact raised over £50,000 that year'. Pullen, who had been the poppy appeal organiser for Liverpool since April 2009, often sat in a minibus parked on Church Street while others went out and did the work of collecting, the court heard. He told a series of lies to volunteers – including that he was a 'government spook' as an 'excuse to shroud his life in mystery'.Sentencing him, Judge Trevor-Jones called Pullen's crimes 'a grand deceit' and said Pullen had purported to have been a member of 'the esteemed parachute regiment'.He described the Royal British Legion as 'one of the much loved and iconic causes held in great affection by the public
Fraud Charity Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal Sentencing
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