A minister who defrauded his church of £10,000 and a grieving parishioner of £1,000 has been jailed for six months.
As he sent Adrian Robert McLaughlin to prison, Judge Patrick Lynch KC told the now former reverend that he abused the trust of his congregation and regarded the parish “as if it was a personal fiefdom.”
The 50-year old father-of-two was convicted by a jury of defrauding £10,000 from St Coleman’s Parish Church in Dunmurry on a date between October 15 and November 30, 2016.
The jury at Craigavon Crown Court also found him guilty of defrauding a parishioner who has just lost her husband of £1,000 between September 24 and October 31, 2016
McLaughlin - who despite the jury’s verdicts continues to maintain his innocence - was back in court on Tuesday were he was handed a 12-month sentence which was divided equally between prison and licence.
Before imposing the term, Judge Lynch, who was sitting in Belfast Crown Court, outlined McLaughlin’s offending.
He revealed that McLaughlin, from Church Avenue in Dunmurry, had been the minister of St Coleman’s Church of Ireland since 2014.
In January 2016 a fire at the church caused extensive damage and a fund was set up to help with the restoration costs.
Over the period from August to November 2016 the Church didn’t have a treasurer and cheques issued from the church’s accounts required two signatures - one of which was McLaughlin’s and the other from a nominated individual.
On October 16, 2016 McLaughlin approached the nominated individual and asked him to co-sign a cheque for £10,000 which he said was to purchase a replacement organ.
In November 2016 a member of the congregation took up the position of treasurer.
When she examined the church’s books, she observed that the cheque stub for the £10,000 transaction bore the name ‘Northern Ireland Organs Limited’
It later emerged that McLaughlin had instead made the cheque out to himself.
Regarding the £1,000 fraud, Judge Lynch said this was handed to McLaughlin by a parishioner who had just lost her husband.
She made the donation on the understanding that the money would be used to purchase memorial items in honour of her deceased husband which were to be positioned in the church.
On this occasion, McLaughlin requested that the payee line be left blank - and instead of purchasing the memorial item McLaughlin filled in his own name and pocketed the £1,000.
Despite the offences being committed in 2016, they were not detected until 2018 and McLaughlin was interviewed by the PSNI in 2020.
Following what Judge Lynch described as an “acrimonious split” from his wife, McLaughlin is now the sole carer of their two teenage children.
During his trial, McLaughlin claimed the allegations of fraud against him were false and were mounted by his ex-wife and a ‘cabal’ of parishioners who had taken her side when the marriage broke down.
These claims were rejected by the jury who found him guilty on two charges of fraud by abuse of position in June.
At Tuesday’s sentencing, Judge Lynch spoke of “the degree of trust” placed in McLaughlin in his position as a minister.
Prior to passing sentence, Judge Lynch said he had taken into consideration defence submissions made by Richard McConkey KC.
These included the delay in bringing the case to court, the impact and hardship a prison sentence would have on McLaughlin’s two children and his previous good character.
Judge Lynch however said McLaughlin was “in a position where a high degree of trust was reposed in him”.
He said he was “cavalier with that trust” and that he “almost regarded the parish as if it was a personal fiefdom.”