The former charity steward of a masonic order in York has been given a suspended prison sentence for stealing more than £12,000 from its benevolent fund.
Martin Grant, 54, systematically stole from the Eboracum Benevolent Fund at the Masonic Hall in St Saviourgate during a six-month period, York Magistrates’ Court heard.
He appeared for sentence yesterday (Thursday) after admitting fraud by abuse of position at a previous court hearing.
At the plea hearing in October, prosecutor Alexander Steadward said the freemason’s fraud campaign came to light in March last year when police received a report from the Eboracum Masonic Lodge that £12,355 had mysteriously disappeared from its benevolent fund’s bank account.
The gargantuan sums had been siphoned from the charity account between October 2023 and March 2024 while Grant was the fund’s charity steward.
In that six-month period, there had been over 30 transactions in which Grant had transferred money from the charity fund into his own account.
His successor as charity steward said that Grant had held the exalted position of Worshipful Master and chairman of the lodge which enabled him to make, propose and approve charity payments.
Mr Steadward said that Grant had been in that post since 2022 in which he was supposed to “safeguard, and not act against, the interests of the lodge”.
When freemasons at the lodge noticed something decidedly suspicious about the transactions, they confronted Grant, who initially claimed he was the victim of a scam and that he would pay the money back.
Mr Steadward said the benevolent fund was set up to raise money for charity and that members of the lodge, including many elderly people and long-serving members, would “give as much as they can afford”.
He said that Grant, of Lavender Way, Easingwold, had been in a “unique position of trust”.
In police interview in May last year, Grant claimed he wasn’t in control of the charity fund and that, while he was aware of the fraudulent transactions, he wasn’t the one responsible and even tried to blame a relative.
“He suggested a family member he wasn’t willing to name had accessed his account to get money (and) said he sent money to recoup the costs,” added Mr Steadward.
When quizzed a second time in January this year, he finally admitted he was the thief, although he didn’t give any explanation for his dastardly plot.
His solicitor Harry Bayman said that Grant, who had debt problems at the time, had never been in trouble before and had since paid back nearly £2,000 more than he had stolen.
He said that at the time of the fraud, Grant had been made redundant from his job and “got himself in debt”.
He said that Grant had been hiding his financial difficulties and his thieving from his wife.
He added that Grant had mental-health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder and a “background of financial and other difficulties” which made him singularly unsuitable for such a voluntary, unpaid role as the steward of a charity fund.
Deputy District Judge John Spencer acknowledged that Grant had mental-health issues and said he could suspend the inevitable jail sentence.
The six-month prison sentence was suspended for 12 months.
As part of that order, Grant will have to complete 15 rehabilitation-activity days and he was ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs, along with a £154 statutory surcharge.
