A vicar accused of pilfering £14,000 from church funds insisted yesterday that he had simply been doing his Christian duty to give to the poor.
The Rev Vaughan Leonard, 59, appeared a breath of fresh spiritual air when he took over the parish of St Thomas Leesfield Church in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in June 2009, delighting parishioners with his down-to-earth love of Manchester United and motorbikes.
But it later emerged that he had been pocketing cash paid to the church for funerals and marriages from the start of his incumbency.
Leonard, a married father of four and former naval officer who served in the Falklands conflict, admitted theft at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, but insisted that he used the money to buy food and clothes for the indigent.
He explained that after a funeral or a wedding, half the fees should be kept by the vicar with the other half passed on to the church diocese.
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“I did not personally make any gains from these sums,” he said. “You do not actually give [the poor] money because you do not know what they are going to spend it on but I would take them to the local Co-op to do some shopping for them or buy them clothes. I would do this out of my own funds, and took it out of the fees.”
The court heard that Leonard offered to pay back the fees but when he left the parish he said that he owed only £250.
A subsequent investigation suggested that £14,434 was missing and, when confronted, Leonard could not account for the cash. He was arrested in December 2009.
Judge Angela Nield adjourned sentencing until June to allow Leonard’s claims to be investigated.
A spokesman for the diocese said: “We expect our clergy to be honest in their dealings with money and it is highly unusual for this trust to be broken. Mr Leonard is now prohibited from exercising any duties as a vicar.”