West Lindsey: A charity boss who funded his mistress by exploiting vulnerable disabled people has been jailed for three years

A married charity boss who funded his young Lithuanian mistress out of money he stole by systematically exploiting vulnerable disabled people has been jailed for three years.
Gainsborough Standard In Court logoGainsborough Standard In Court logo
Gainsborough Standard In Court logo

Peter Childs paid for his lover Inga Stasytyte, 27, out of the state benefits of the people his own charity was supposed to be caring for.

Childs pocketed their disability living allowance and their cold weather payments and persuaded them to hand over their life savings telling them the money would be safe with the charity Lincoln and District Mencap, an independent organisation affiliated to Royal Mencap.

And for years he overcharged the 20 clients by up to 100 per cent for gas and electricity bills in their supported housing.

Lincoln Crown Court was told that Childs, had a baby boy with his mistress and but later returned to his wife Alison, 48.

Childs, who was chairman of the charity, was assisted in the thefts by his wife, who worked as accommodation manager for the organisation, with the pair pocketing £212,000 over a six year period.

The couple enjoyed a comfortable middle class life in their rented farm house in the Lincolnshire countryside where they kept their two horses and bred German Shepherd dogs.

The Childs also had a £50,000 lodge at a holiday park in Hunstanton, Norfolk, as well as a caravan in the resort.

But they were caught out after Peter Childs suffered a stroke which left him in a wheelchair and unable to look after himself. In his absence staff at the charity discovered discrepancies in the accounts and called in police.

Peter Childs, 61, and Alison Childs, 48, of Nettleham, Lincs, were each convicted by a jury of 12 charges of theft and 14 charges of fraud by abuse of position between December 2005 and December 2011. Alison Childs was found guilty of a further fraud charge. They had denied the charges. Peter Childs had previously admitted two charges of fraud.

Judge Sean Morris jailed each of them for three years.

The Judge said: “This was a mean and calculated series of thefts.”

“You were both in positions of the utmost trust.”

“You were entrusted to look after the best interests of some of the most vulnerable people.”