Fraudulent fundraising leaves a bad smell
Howard Lake | 2 June 1998 | News
Two men who posed as collectors for a cancer charity have each been jailed for 18 months.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how Steven Bain and Steven Gawthorp, from Southport, Merseyside, had built up a collection of 10,000 pairs of used socks as part of a sexual foot fetish. They told the men whom they tricked into handing over their socks that the charity received £300 for every 300 pairs collected.
Some “victims” were photographed holding up their socks, while others were persuaded back to one of the men’s flat where they were encouraged to engage in perverted activities. Both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit acts of gross indecency. It does not appear that they received any sentence for their fraudulent fundraising.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.