A CONVICTED fraudster who hid her past to head a community regeneration project, and then defrauded the charity of £51,000, has been jailed for 32 months.
Miriam Beard, of Tryfan Uchaf, Henllan, Denbigh, was told by Judge Rhys Rowlands: “This was a cynical, sustained, very bad breach of trust.”
Caernarfon Crown Court heard that Beard, 56, had been a welfare rights adviser for Wrexham council after lying on an application form. She took 10 years off her age and concealed her previous convictions for fraud.
She became coordinator of the Plas Madoc Communities First Project at Acrefair, Wrexham, responsible for 42 people. Her barrister Russell Davies said there was a “culture of generosity.”
He said: “High wages were paid, relatives employed, and the opportunity was clearly presented that tempted Miriam Beard to behave in a dishonest way.She doesn’t accept she received this cash.”
Judge Rowlands told her: “You behaved in a thoroughly dishonest fashion towards your employers.
“You were running that organisation. In that role you were supposed to be promoting the interests of those who, I’m told, live in one of the most deprived areas of Wales.
“Clearly a lot of good work was done. But the sad truth is behind the backs of that community and the trustees or directors appointed to carry out the aims of the organisation, you were stealing money which could and ought to have been applied for the benefit of others.”
Beard had claimed to be of good character when she had convictions for dishonesty and had been jailed for conspiracy to defraud in 1979.
She had changed her pleas on the fourth day of a trial and admitted nine charges.
Her son Darrell Kelly, of Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, received a 12-month suspended jail term and must do 250 hours unpaid work and obey a three-month 10pm-6am curfew. Kelly, 36, admitted offences including fraud involving the use of a fuel card in his mother’s name, and possessing criminal property.
Judge Rowlands told him: “You wouldn’t be in that dock were it not for your mother.”
The judge said Kelly had assisted his mother with a fraud in relation to a caravan.
The prosecution alleged she had found a way to pay him £18,300 on the pretext he owned a holiday caravan on the coast and was renting it to the project for residents’ use.
His barrister said the offending was “completely out of character.”
Following the sentencing at Caernarfon Crown Court on Friday, DC David Evans said: “The case came to light following a Welsh Government audit investigation, which itself was triggered by information concerning financial irregularities at Communities First in Plas Madoc.
“This was a complex investigation which involved a team examining documents and records going back to 2003 and interviewing as many as 12 individuals to uncover the wide ranging fraud and deception carried out by Beard over many years.
“It was clear from the evidence presented to the court that Beard had set out to defraud and had illegally gained thousand of pounds of public money which was supposed to benefit the community of Plas Madoc. This sentence demonstrates the seriousness of the offence and that those who steal from the public purse will be brought to justice “