Charity boss enjoyed fine dining and bought Chanel sunglasses for his partner, court told

Colin Nesbitt told the charity’s chief executive he invented the rape alarm and that put him “in a very comfortable position” to live off the proceeds, Bradford Crown Court was told.

Nesbitt, on trial denying a £370,000 fraud and theft, said he was very proud not to draw a wage from Little Heroes, the charity he founded in 2008 after his grandson was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, it was stated.

The jury heard that if it had been agreed with the trustees, he could have drawn a £40,000 annual salary.

Giving evidence for the prosecution, Annabelle Wilkinson told how she was passionate about the work of Little Heroes supporting children with cancer and their families.

“I really, really wanted to get involved in this. It sounded fantastic,” she said.

Mrs Wilkinson had spent seven or eight years working in the charities sector when she joined Little Heroes as operations manager at its offices in Park View Court, St Paul’s Road, Shipley, in March 2015.

She recalled that one person worked for Little Heroes and around 12 for its associate company, Unite and Ignite.

Most of the income came from firewalks and other fundraising events, with 10% of the money from donations.

Nesbitt, the director of both organisations, was “in sole control of the finances,” banking and recording the money coming in, Mrs Wilkinson said.

When she found out the Charity Commission was visiting Little Heroes on May 21, 2015, it was “a huge cause for concern,” she said, but Nesbitt was “nonchalant” about it.

Mrs Wilkinson said of the running of the charity: “The governance was lacking. There was lots that needed to be addressed; systems needed to be put in place; there was no due diligence, no paper trail, no accountability.”

Following the visit from the Charity Commission, Mrs Wilkinson said: “We had a real tall order on our hands. There were endless things that we would need to very quickly action if we were to continue with this charity.”

She continued: “It was made implicitly clear to the charity that we should not make any cash withdrawals in the future.”

Nesbitt decided to step down from Little Heroes to continue as director of its associate company, Unite and Ignite, the jury heard.

Mrs Wilkinson became chief executive of the Little Heroes Cancer Trust and three new independent trustees were appointed, including Councillor Richard Dunbar. An accountant and a bookkeeper were taken on in-house.

The court heard that Nesbitt made stepping down from his role “an absolutely horrendous process.”

Mrs Wilkinson said he was difficult and evasive and made the transition as drawn out as possible.

She became a signatory on the charity’s bank account, but Nesbitt refused to hand over the cheque books.

On October 5, 2015, Mrs Wilkinson said he was volatile and derogatory about her ability to manage the charity.

Over the weekend, office files and paperwork were disrupted or removed and motivational decorations torn or missing.

Mrs Wilkinson said Nesbitt told her he was “struggling” and needed to draw a salary.

She said he was extravagant and generous with his money.

“A wallet constantly full of cash was out all the time.”

He said he liked fine dining and that he had bought Chanel sunglasses for his partner.

At a trustees meeting when “grave concerns” were voiced about where some of the funds were, Nesbitt became very defensive and walked out, Mrs Wilkinson said.

She locked both herself and him out of the charity’s Yorkshire Bank account and took cash and a laptop home for safe keeping.

On October 12, 2015, Mrs Wilkinson handed Nesbitt a letter of suspension and he left the office. The jury was told that the letter did not contain any allegations of financial misconduct.

Mrs Wilkinson then found a Barclays Bank statement, Colin Nesbitt trading as Little Heroes, that she knew nothing about. Files were gone, accounts documents were missing and money bags torn open and screwed up, she told the court.

She also found evidence of holidays Nesbitt had taken with his grandson to Orlando, the Caribbean and Paris.

Mrs Wilkinson said there was a £7,000 cash withdrawal from the charity’s bank account on May 22, the day after the visit from the Charity Commission.

When she asked Nesbitt about it, he could not recall why the money had been taken out. At that time, he was the only one with access to the account.

Nesbitt, 58, of Kent Road, Bingley, denies five charges of fraud by abuse of position, three counts of supplying false and misleading information to the Charity Commission by massively under declaring the charity’s revenue, and one charge of stealing £7,000 from the Little Heroes Cancer Trust.

The trial continues.