NSPCC cash chief stole pounds 838,408

A FORMER chief cashier with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was jailed for six years yesterday, after he admitted taking pounds 838,408 in donations.

At Harrow Crown Court, north-west London, Brian Gladwin, 48, of Amering, near Littlehampton, West Sussex, pleaded guilty to 19 charges of theft and three of forgery, all said to have taken place during the six years until his arrest on 19 November last year.

The proceeds from his crimes led to him buying a pounds 200,000 luxury house in Sussex, a pounds 200,000 villa in Spain, two cars, life insurance policies and other investments, the prosecution claimed.

The court was told how he opened a savings account at the Post Office in the name of N Speed, carefully thought up so he could easily change the lettering undetected from the NSPCC. Nicholas Coleman, for the prosecution, said: 'He was an employee for 11 years until the fraud was discovered. He would intercept postal orders and cheques.' Mr Coleman said all this happened while Gladwin was working at the society's headquarters in London.

Gordon Pringle, for the defence, said: 'He has no previous convictions and no one at the charity need feel the suspicion falls on them. He was the only one involved. When he comes out of prison, he will be penniless.'

Judge Myrella Cohen QC told Gladwin, who sobbed in court: 'It is particularly mean to steal charity money. You occupied a position of trust and you broke that trust. This a particularly mean type of offending.'