Ex-treasurer who defrauded church by more than £700,000 is jailed

Ordering Godfrey Ellis to serve half that sentence in jail and half under licence conditions, Judge Patrick McGurgen told the 54-year-old his offending and the breach of trust is so serious that he had to jail him “not just to punish you but also to deter others”.

The Craigavon Crown judge told Ellis that although “you deny living in a lavish lifestyle, it was noted that you had a holiday each year and in one case you'd booked Disneyland in Florida, albeit I understand that was postponed.”

Quoting from a victim impact statement from the Rev Mark Harvey, the judge highlighted that “it is important to recognise that these are not crimes committed against a faceless institution, but rather against the same people with who Mr Ellis shared Christian worship - ordinary people who gave their money faithfully and who see it as their duty and indeed their calling to finance and support God's work to their local parish church”.

At an earlier hearing Ellis, from Clanconnell Gardens in Waringstown, entered guilty pleas to three of the four charges against him, namely two of fraud by abuse of position and one of forgery in that between July 26, 2011 and February 9, 2020, he abused his position of trust within Shankill Parish Church in Lurgan to transfer £643,637.31 from the church’s bank account to accounts under his control.

Ellis also admitted using parish funds of £102,313 to make payments on his credit cards and further that he forged a cheque on February 9, 2020.

​“The gravity of Godfrey Ellis’ crimes against the church could so easily have decimated our parish…The betrayal of trust is at the heart of everything for me,” quoted the judge.

“You accepted that you gave your children anything they wanted, without any thought for the monetary value of some and you were unable to account for the significant amount of money that you had removed,” remarked the judge.

During his sentencing remarks, Judge McGurgen outlined how Ellis took over an accountancy firm in 2005 and then the following year, he was appointed treasurer of Shankill parish Church.

“This was an unpaid position with very significant responsibility,” said the judge, adding that Ellis “was in charge of the church finances, reporting to the vestry on a monthly basis.”

Initially, cheques had to be co-signed by either Re, Mark Harvey or vestry member Desmond Gregg but “with the arrival of online banking, the defendant had sole online access to the accounts.”

On 11 February 2020 Danske Bank contacted Mr Gregg about a cheque which had been made payable to Ellis’ company and he “confirmed that he had not signed that cheque.”

“A number of other checks were produced to the same effect,” said the judge adding that when Rev Harvey was shown a cheque for £15,000, “he confirmed that the signature was his, but he did not recognise the payee.”

“At a meeting with Danske Bank it became clear that the parish’s accounts had been, in the words of reverend Harvey, cleared out,” Judge McGurgen told the court.