Man jailed for a year for defrauding church of £410k

A 60-year-old man has been jailed for a year after he admitted defrauding a church of £410,000.

Ernest Reddick of Diamond Road in Dromore, County Down, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of fraud by false representation and one of false accounting.

Detectives said donations from the congregation of Lisburn Baptist Church were being used to "prop up" Reddick's accountancy business.

At Craigavon Crown Court on Thursday he was given a two-year sentence, half of which will be spent in prison and half on licence.

Det Insp McCarten said police were contacted by a pastor from the church in November 2021.

The pastor said that a member of his congregation had admitted to taking money from the church bank accounts and making false accounts to disguise it.

The police investigation found Reddick had been acting as a treasurer for the church since 2012 and had used his position of trust to create a "web of false transactions".

An earlier hearing heard that Reddick, a director with CMC Accountants in Lisburn, "destroyed, defaced, concealed or falsified" a certain account record which had been "made or required for an accounting purpose".

The investigation found that Reddick later paid back the money in full, but Det Insp McCarten said "the impact of his offending on those who put their faith in him" should not be underestimated.

Reddick committed the offences between 1 January 2012 and 30 November 2021.