A former church official said to have clocked up more flights than globetrotting broadcaster Alan Whicker has pleaded guilty to defrauding a charity of more than £5 million. Martin Sargeant, 52, who worked as operations manager for the Church of England’s Diocese of London from 2008 until his retirement in August 2019, flew with British Airways more than 180 times over the course of a decade.
Sargeant, who was clerk of the City Church grants committee, funded the trips by defrauding the charitable trust – set up by an Act of Parliament in 1891 to support and fund the restoration of churches and chaired by the Archdeacon of London – of around £5.2 million. He fraudulently requested grants for funding for dysfunctional churches so he could steal the money by transferring funds through church bank accounts he controlled as part of his job.
The money was then funnelled into Sargeant’s accounts or withdrawn in cash or by card payments before he spent it on travel, personal entertainment, and gambling. Sargeant appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Friday to plead guilty to fraud by abuse of position between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2019.
