Gambling great-grandmother sentenced over £115k charity theft

A great-grandma with “gambling difficulties” who stole £115,000 from a charity has avoided jail after receiving a two-year suspended sentence.

Pamela Bent took the money while working as the treasurer of the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (Sharp), based near Hunstanton, in Norfolk.

Sentencing her at Norwich Magistrates’ Court, recorder Ruth Brander said Bent’s gambling was a “misguided attempt” to repay her debts.

A director for the charity said the team had trusted her and that it had been “completely torn to shreds” by her actions.

Prosecutors said Bent, of James Close, King’s Lynn, stole the money between June 2020 and January 2022 and that she had a “gambling addiction”.

She contacted Norfolk police to tell them she had “borrowed” money from the charity to pay her mortgage.

Bent was a trustee at Sharp, which runs the largest independent archaeological projects in Britain.

The 65-year-old had previously admitted four charges, including fraud by abuse of position and falsifying documents.

She had paid back around half of the money before the fraud came to light, with £61,000 still outstanding.

Defence barrister Philip Farr said her husband had lost his job, she could not pay the mortgage and she started gambling.

“This wasn’t an offence committed out of greed, rather desperation,” said Mr Farr.

Bent was sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for two years.

Recorder Brander said she had “dishonestly abused” her position and that the crime was a significant abuse of trust.

In her judgement, she gave Bent credit for seeking help for her gambling addiction and said her decision not to send her to jail took into account her poor health.

The recorder added that the great-grandmother’s gambling was a “misguided attempt to deal with the situation you found yourself in” and acknowledged that she had been shunned by some of her children since the incident.

Sharp’s excavation director, Dr Eleanor Blakelock, said Bent’s crimes had a “huge impact” on the charity.

“The lack of funds means we have had to put off a huge number of projects that we would’ve liked to have done,” she said.

Dr Blakelock added it was “heartbreaking” when the team found out, and “the trust we did have in her has been completely torn to shreds”.

Bent has been forced by the court to sell her home to repay the charity the rest of the money she owes them.