A "highly respected" clerk at a Welsh town council has been jailed after defrauding her employer of more than £230,000. Margaret Buckley conned councillors who signed blank cheques which she then used to pay herself, her daughter, a church, and its flower group.
Buckley, 76, started as a deputy clerk at Maesteg Town Council in 2003 before being promoted to clerk in 2016 when her predecessor retired. She held the position until 2020 when she resigned.
She attended Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday after admitting she defrauded the council of £238,205.54 – split across £17,279 to Our Lady & St Patrick church, £134,894.86 to the church's flower group, £82,181.68 to her own account, and £3,850 to her daughter.
Read next: 'Desperate' landlord dodged almost £80k of VAT on pub after running into financial problems
Prosecutor Cat Jones said Buckley had oversight of the council's chequebook in her role. In 2019 the Wales Audit Office noticed some irregularities and Buckley was asked to provide copies of the accounts. She did not respond.
While Buckley was off work with ill health the acting clerk discovered she had falsified invoices and convinced councillors to sign blank cheques. She wrote more than 120 fraudulent cheques from the council between 2015 and 2020.
The court heard Buckley was suspended from her role and took some accounts with her. But when police interviewed Buckley she admitted the fraud. Ms Jones told the court: "She said she initially took money to make contributions for repairs to the local church and hadn't managed to pay it back but she accepted the matter got out of hand."
Buckley told police: "It's my fault. I don't want anyone else to take the blame... I will take the punishment handed out to me."
.
When the fraud started to emerge some social media posts made unfounded allegations that councillors were involved, which led to some leaving their roles. The clerk who replaced Buckley said the fraud led to a lack of public trust in the council.
Buckley, of Llwydarth Road, used a Zimmer frame in court. She has no previous convictions and the publicity around her offence has been "a significant blow to her", said her barrister Robin Rouch.
He added: "Her references speak very highly of her and what she has done in the past. She is wholly remorseful over what has taken place. Her family were wholly oblivious of her actions until they were reported. She is ashamed of the impact on them.
"The church has played a significant role in her life from a very early age. Some would say bizarrely the defendant took it upon herself to ensure the church had funds. The first payment was of £49,000 to the church group and £2,300 to herself so it's clear how it started and what it started for. I have to accept it grew from there."
Mr Rouch said the fraud funded Buckley's "day-to-day expenditure" rather than a "lavish lifestyle". He told the court she did not realise how much she had taken until it "caught up" with her.
An insurance company has reimbursed the council but Ms Jones said the firm is expected to make a financial claim against Buckley. She has around £29,000 in her bank account which she expects to be taken by the company, the court heard.
Mr Rouch said that his client has spent time in hospital following falls and that she would struggle in prison "due to her age and mobility". He accepted there had been "some prevarication" from her, adding that she took "some documents but not all" from the council offices.
Judge Shomon Khan told Buckley: "You were trusted by council officials with the public's money... You paid invoices, you paid expenses, you paid employees." He said she was so trusted that councillors would sign blank cheques on her request.
The judge added: "I can't ignore the fact you are 76 years of age. I can see you are frail. I have read medical evidence of difficulties in your mobility.
"It is quite clear to me you were a highly respected member of the community. You have done much for the church. You were described as caring, responsible, and focused. This criminality has destroyed your reputation. It has undone all your previous good work... No doubt the church would be horrified to find out that [the repair funds] were from criminal money."
Judge Khan accepted that Buckley is not a risk to the public and is "never going to offend again". But he said he would not suspend the prison term of two years and four months.
"Your fraudulent activities were a gross breach of trust," he told her. "You abused the trust of the council and in doing so you abused the trust of the public."
Loud sobbing could then be heard from a family member in the public gallery but there was no visible reaction from Buckley, other than a slight nod to the judge, as her jail term was handed down. You can read more court stories here.
READ NEXT:
