Vicar stole from church to pay debts, court told

A vicar stole more than £26,000 from his parish and the Church of England to fund "a lifestyle beyond his means", a court was told yesterday.

A vicar stole more than £26,000 from his parish and the Church of England to fund "a lifestyle beyond his means", a court was told yesterday.

Trevor Jones, 50, allegedly fiddled a series of loans and payments to cover his personal debts after getting into a "financial mess" while drawing a church salary of £16,800.

The vicar at the medieval church of St Peter & St Mary in Stowmarket, Suffolk, resorted to defrauding a fund set up to provide cash for the needy, it was alleged.

Mr Jones is pleading not guilty to 12 counts of dishonesty.

Anthony Bate, for the prosecution, told Ipswich Crown Court the cleric obtained the money between March 1997 and February of this year by means of "dishonesty, dishonest borrowing and outright theft".

The court was told that Mr Jones gained £20,894 between 1997 and 1999 under a scheme run by the Church Commissioners of England to provide cheap car loans for the clergy.

It was claimed he failed to buy the cars specified in his applications, instead using the money to finance personal living expenses. The church loans were also allegedly combined with advances from his bank.

Mr Jones is alleged to have supplemented the loans by stealing from and defrauding funds held by his church.

Mr Bate said: "It is the case he misused church and parishioners' money to pay off personal debts, including a county court judgment against him, and to tide himself over when he was in a financial mess."

Concerns were raised about the parish finances by the church treasurer, Roy Pettitt, when he resigned in September 1998 but the parochial council passed a vote of confidence in the vicar, the court was told.

The trial continues.