Thieving vicar made to sweat

Vaughan Leonard

A vicar who stole thousands of pounds in wedding and funeral fees paid by parishioners has had his sentencing hearing adjourned until next month.

Vaughan Leonard, of Oldham Road, Middleton, who has now been stripped of his licence to work as a pastor, took more than £14,000 in cash over a period of less than three years while at St Thomas’s Church in Leesfield.

He says he took it to help the needy — and to subsidise his own church which was under-funded. Part of the cash was spent on buying communion wine and wafers.

The money was only found to be missing after he resigned from his position for “personal reasons.”

Leonard (59), who also had responsibility for conducting services at St Agnes Church within the same parish, appeared at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court after pleading guilty to two charges of theft at Oldham Magistrates’ Court.

David Bentley, prosecuting, said the vicar was inducted to the church in June, 2006, and would have signed an assignment deed agreeing to hand over all fees for services he conducted.

As vicar, he was paid a stipend to cover essential costs including lighting, heating and costs of living.

Service fees paid directly to him were supposed to be lodged with the treasurer of the parochial church council, and then split with the Diocese of Manchester.

The court was told that instead of making prompt and regular payments, Leonard asked to make a payment at the end of each calendar year — and because of his position, nobody questioned the request.

He resigned from his post in September, 2009.

The court was told how shortly afterwards discrepancies in the accounting system were noticed and a request was made to him to repay all outstanding fees owed.

Leonard claimed he only owed £250, but shocked church council officials estimated he owed £14,345 after going through the books. When confronted about the missing money, he offered to repay it at £100 per week.

It was also discovered that a funeral register that had once been in use at the church, had been discarded, making it more difficult to easily check on exactly how many services of that type he had conducted.

Oldham Magistrates at an earlier hearing were told that Mr Leonard’s thieving began just a week after he was appointed vicar.

Proceeding.