A Co Down woman admitted defrauding more than £50,000 from the Orange Order.
With Lorraine Hunter standing in the dock of Downpatrick Crown Court, defence counsel Conor Holmes asked for two of the three charges to be put to the 52-year-old again.
At count one Hunter, from the Circular Road in Ards, admitted a count of theft in that between January 13 2015 and July 9 2020 she stole “£50,180 or thereabouts, being the total proceeds of a number of cheques made out to you, belonging to the trustees of Mary Street Orange Hall, Newtownards”.
On a second count, she entered a guilty plea to a charge of forgery in relation to “number of cheques drawn upon Dankse Bank Limited”.
Following Hunter’s confessions, the prosecution asked for a third count of false accounting, alleging that she “destroyed defaced concealed or falsified certain account records or documents [for two accounts] belonging to the Orange Hall Renovation Fund which had been made or required for an accounting purpose” to be left on the books.
Granting that application, Judge Mark McGarrity also granted Mr Holmes’ application for sentencing to be adjourned to allow time for the probation board to compile a pre-sentence report.
Freeing Hunter on bail, Judge McGarrity adjourned the case to September 12.