Former clerk embezzled more than £20k from council

A former clerk who embezzled more than £20,000 from a parish council has pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position.

Jonnathan Hicks, 54, of William O'Callaghan Place, Dereham, failed to complete payments and wrote cheques to himself while working at Old Buckenham Parish Council in Norfolk.

Councillors became suspicious of his activities but did not discover the account had been drained until after he went to Thetford Police Station to confess.

He is expected to be sentenced on 17 February.

In a statement following his court appearance earlier this week, Naomi Bailey, council chairwoman, said Hicks, a former lorry driver, had orchestrated a "systemic pattern of deception… to defraud public money for personal enrichment".

"We were horrified to discover what had happened and have been working incredibly hard over the last six months to try and fix the mess we had been left with," she said.

"While there is plenty of work still to do, matters are slowly getting sorted. Steps have been taken to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again.

"We will continue to look after our beautiful village and while it will take some time to reveal the full extent of the deception, the village and its residents will always be our top priority."

Ms Bailey said Hicks had not made payments to individuals and companies for several months, despite them having been previously approved by the council.

Hicks became a councillor in 2017 and stepped into his role as clerk and responsible financial officer in November 2023.

He resigned in August 2024, shortly after his arrest.

At Norwich Crown Court his lawyer argued that some of the money may have been legitimate expenses taken by Hicks.

This exact sum has yet to be calculated but the amount obtained by fraud is estimated at about £21,000 - almost the entire amount paid by locals to the parish through their council tax last year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The bank has since returned the funds to the parish council following its own investigation.

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