Church fraudster jailed

Nicola Holding, described as a trusted church treasurer, who stole GBP 90,000 between 2008 and 2011 was sentenced to two and half years jail by the Plymouth Crown Court after pleading guilty but evading sentencing because of supposed ill health.

Holding siphoned off money from St Boniface Church funds, spending it on online gambling and furniture.

According to court documents, she forged documents to cover up the theft but has since repaid GBP 24 000.

Judge Paul Darlow during sentencing said: ” ‘You plundered their accounts for your own benefit including gambling on internet sites.”’

“It was a huge sense of betrayal which has had a massive impact on the church and the church community,” Reverend Alison Shaw of St. Boniface Church told the court.

“She was central to everything in the church. Young people put her on a pedestal and she preached to the adults.  She was a very moral person who told them how to behave.”

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