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The ex-JSPCA CEO has been jailed for seven years after embezzling over £405,000 from the charity to fund “extravagances” including firearms and sports cars – actions the shelter says “nearly destroyed” them.
The Royal Court heard this morning that 62-year-old ex-serviceman Stephen John Coleman also used the money to fund luxury holidays and to meet escalating mortgage payments, as well as giving colleagues false pay rises.
Video: Stephen Coleman leaving Court to begin his seven-year sentence.
The sentence comes around two years after Express first revealed that the JSPCA was fighting tooth and claw to survive, saddling debts of around one million pounds.
Described by prosecutor Crown Advocate David Hopwood as “reprehensible”, Coleman’s offending saw his salary artificially inflate from £47,500 when he was permanently appointed in November 2006 to £111,322 in 2016.
Pictured: Coleman's sentencing follows a complex investigation into the charity's finances.
The Court was told that Coleman’s offending was only discovered when he applied to the Financial Controller for a further 15% pay rise due to his ten years’ of service with the JSPCA.
Charged with 15 counts of fraud, and four counts relating to the forgery of documents, Coleman stole from the charity by awarding himself and other senior members of staff “illicit” bonuses and rises.
The Crown Advocate explained that “all of the frauds employed the same method: the defendant misled the pay clerk into awarding inflated amounts, and in all but two instances… doctored committee minutes accordingly”.
It was heard that between 2007 and 2016 Coleman gradually embezzled just under £300,000 to give himself false pay awards and over £100,000 in false rises for some of his senior colleagues.
Pictured: Coleman artificially inflated his own salary from around £47,000 to more than £100,000.
In total, Coleman stole £405,550.91 from the charity.
Elaborating on the impact of the offending on the JSPCA, Crown Advocate Hopwood read a victim personal statement from JSPCA President Charles Gruchy who said that Coleman had “placed his own interests above” those of the JSPCA, the animals it helps, its volunteers and the people of Jersey.
He stated: "Stephen’s actions nearly destroyed the JSPCA.”
The Crown invited the Court to impose a prison sentence of 6 years.
Advocate Lucy Marks, representing Coleman, attempted to contextualise her client’s offending by saying that his military service has exaggerated his need for status and recognition.
Citing his recent diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and quoting from a report carried out by Clinical Psychologist Dr Katherin Boucher, Advocate Marks argued that often ex-military personnel return from service feeling “not good enough” and try to “compensate this” with the “need to be successful” and gain status.
Although the defence lawyer emphasised that this “does not excuse the offences”, it does put them into the context of the “complex and unresolved emotions [Coleman] has shouldered for many years".
Saying that the ex-serviceman and former Centenier was “deeply ashamed” of his actions Advocate Marks claimed that a more suitable sentence would be five years’ imprisonment.
The case was heard by Royal Court Commissioner Sir Michael Birt, presiding, and Jurats Hughes, Averty, Crill, Thomas and Pitman.
Ultimately the Court sentenced Coleman to seven years in prison, with the Commissioner describing the offence as "a breach of trust of the highest order".
A confiscation order was also made in the sum of £228,210.84 - from the sale of his assets, including half of his equity share in his house.
That money will be used to pay back the JSPCA, rather than going into the Criminal Confiscation Fund.
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