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Gran sells home to pay back £115k charity theft

Robby WestSedgeford, Norfolk
BBC A woman, Pamela Bent, who has short grey hear, is wearing a white top and sitting in a wheelchair. She is holding a crutch with a blue handle. A person wearing a blue striped top and grey jeans is pushing her in the wheelchair.BBC
Pamela Bent previously pleaded guilty to fraud and false accounting

A great-grandma who stole £115,000 from a charity has been forced to sell her home to repay the money.

Pamela Bent took the money while working as the treasurer of the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (Sharp), based near Hunstanton, in Norfolk.

The then 65-year-old avoided jail but received a two-year suspended sentence on the condition she sold her home to repay what she took.

A director for Sharp said the crime nearly shut the organisation but it was now "on the up" after the money had been repaid.

Bent was a trustee at Sharp, which runs the largest independent archaeological projects in Britain.

She had previously admitted four charges, including fraud by abuse of position and falsifying documents.

An archaeology trench dug into the soil with people working in it. There are two large tents, a field and some houses in the background.
The charity run excavation courses, teaching people how to dig.

Sharp's excavation director, Dr Eleanor Blakelock, said discovering the crime was a "huge blow".

She said at the time the organisation was "seriously close" to having to shut down due to the theft.

"We actually had to ask for loans of various trustees just to keep ourselves going until we could sort of get that money back," she said.

Since the money has been repaid Dr Blakelock said the charity had "sorted ourselves out and we're now on the up".

A close-up of a woman, Dr Eleanor Blakelock, wearing a blue, yellow and red top. She has shoulder-length light brown hair. She is standing in front of a case full of bones.
Dr Eleanor Blakelock said the theft nearly closed the charity

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