Woman must repay cash stolen from friend's charity

A woman who stole £86,000 from a charity set up in memory of her best friend's daughter has been given three months to repay the money.

Lindsay MacCallum, 61, defrauded the charity Rainbow Valley over the course of a decade, after launching it with former friend Angela MacVicar.

She also embezzled £9,505 from the Anthony Nolan Trust - a stem cell donation charity.

Mrs MacVicar said it was "wonderful" that the money would be returned, saying it would help reduce her charity's 200-person waiting list.

MacCallum, who was jailed for three years in October, has been given until March to repay the money in full.

She has already paid back £25,000 of the money she stole from her former friend.

Mrs MacVicar had feared that if a criminal confiscation order was granted, the rest of the money MacCallum was due to repay would have gone to the Treasury.

She said: "They decided they would cancel the confiscation order and instead put in place a compensation order, so the money goes back to the charities.

"The charity will survive and thrive now that we're getting it back."

MacCallum had worked as a fundraising manager for the Anthony Nolan Trust from 1995 to 2012 before she left to set up Rainbow Valley with Mrs MacVicar.

In 2005, Mrs MacVicar lost her 27-year-old daughter Johanna to leukaemia and the foundation was established in her honour.

Mrs MacVicar said: "Johanna would have been absolutely furious, she was a fiery little thing.

"This world's over for Johanna and she's just a catalyst to help other people.

"I just want to get on with helping others overcome the pain, suffering and fear of cancer."

Falkirk Sheriff Court was told it had been agreed with MacCallum's lawyers that confiscation proceedings should be paused to give her until March to repay the remaining outstanding funds - £60,000 to Rainbow Valley and £9,505 to the Anthony Nolan Trust.

Mrs MacVicar said that the decision did not compensate for the hurt caused by her former friend.

She said: "I'm just delighted for both charities and I'm delighted the justice system made the right decision.

"However, the hurt to her family and mine will be forever. That will take a bit more to get over."

Advocate Sarah Loosemore said MacCallum, who was not present in court, had undertaken to do so, and simply required three months to liquidate the funds.

She said: "The best place for this money is for it to go back to the charities."

Mr Rashid said that if the money was repaid by March 2025, court action by the Crown under the Proceeds of Crime Act would be withdrawn.

A court heard previously that MacCallum, of Aberfoyle, Perthshire, forged signatures of charity staff and rerouted cash from fundraising accounts for her own use between 2011 and 2021.

She was told by a sheriff she had "systematically and deliberately" perpetrated "calculating" frauds on the third sector organisations, and "betrayed" cancer victims.

The pair worked together for 10 years before a fall-out in 2022.

Mrs MacVicar subsequently discovered discrepancies in an account set up for a fundraising ball.

In total MacCallum took £85,978 from Rainbow Valley.

The court heard that MacCallum was made project development manager of Rainbow Valley and in 2014 was given a charity credit card to replace using a Friends of Rainbow Valley bank account.

But the account remained in use and it was not until August 2022, after a fall out between the friends, that questions were raised over transactions from this account.

MacCallum - a former Royal Navy servicewoman - pleaded guilty to two fraud charges totalling £95,483.

Additional reporting by Central Scotland News Agency