Church warden commits suicide after Ksh19.1m theft was uncovered by priest

UK:   A church treasurer who stole over Ksh19124000 (£140,000) from organizations she volunteered for after amassing huge, secret debts killed herself when her deceit was discovered, an inquest heard.

Jill Gover, 54, was a respected and trusted member of her local community, serving as a church warden, book keeper for the village hall and a trustee for a wealthy colleague's trust fund.

But she racked up debts of £225,000 that included a £112,000 mortgage on a Grade II listed country cottage, £38,000 for two BMW cars, three bank loans of £50,000, five maxed-out credit cards totaling £21,000 and a £5,700 clothes catalogue bill.

She kept most of those debts and thefts hidden from husband Martin.

Mr. Gover said he was 'lost for words' after hearing the full extent of his wife's duplicity at her inquest.

The hearing heard Mrs. Gover siphoned off £50,466 from the coffers of 14th century Holy Rood Church in the village of Wool, Dorset, over a number of years.

The trusted treasurer made numerous church cheques out to herself after forging the second signatory.

Her deceit started to unravel after a cheque of £20,000 from the CofE church to the Diocese of Salisbury bounced due to a lack of funds in its bank account.

Two days before her death on March 31 last year, Mrs Gover was called to a meeting with vicar Rhona Floate to discuss the discrepancies.

The clergywoman followed it up with a message left on her home and mobile phone before Mrs Gover's body was found by her husband in the woodshed on the grounds of their home, Garden Cottage, in the hamlet of Moreton.

Detective Constable Richard Evans, from Weymouth CID, investigated Mrs. Gover's finances which revealed the fill extent of the thefts.

He said she had been misappropriating church funds since 2008, had not presented financial statements to an independent auditor since 2009 and had forged the audit reports to the diocese to cover up her thefts.

Inquiries showed Mrs. Gover had also stolen at least £3,000 from the accounts of East Burton village hall in Wool which she was also the treasurer for between January 2013 and March 2014.

Mrs. Gover had also stolen £91,200 from the recipients of a trust fund she had worked as a book keeper for.

DC Evans said she wrote fraudulent letters to Scottish Widows requesting sums from the trust account; five separate payments of between £5,000 and £30,000 over a seven-month period in 2012 to 2013 and then a final withdrawal of £1,200 in July 2013.

Mrs. Gover had also agreed a loan from the trust of £150,000 in 2010, which she would pay back over a ten-year period, but the hearing was told the majority of this remained unpaid.

Mr. Gover, who is aged in his 50s, said he was shocked at some of the information revealed at the inquest.

He said: "I was completely unaware of what was going on and there's still bits and pieces we have been told today that have shocked me immensely. I’m lost for words.

"She was a wonderful, caring person. She was always there for people but sometimes she carried her life on her shoulders because she spent so much time doing things for others."

In an interview with the police Mr Gover suggested that some of the money may have been used to prop up a hardware shop the couple ran which had been struggling.

Mr Gover also told officers that Mrs Gover wasn't feeling depressed and her suicide was completely out of character.

He said he could only surmise that the financial situation got on top of her.

Deputy coroner Brendan Allen said although there was no suicide note he believed Mrs Gover intended to kill herself and recorded a verdict of suicide at the Bournemouth inquest.

Mr Allen said: "She was in significant debt and with what happened the preceding weekend and the bounced cheque becoming apparent on March 31, I take the view she intended to end her own life."

The Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, expressed his condolences to the family and urged anyone in a difficult situation to seek help.

He added: "I urge people to seek help if they are in a difficult situation no matter how desperate it seems, no matter how much they feel they may have contributed to it. The first step to solving any problem is to talk to someone. There are always options and alternatives."

Mrs Gover was lived in Hertfordshire before moving to Wool and became treasurer at Holy Rood church in 2004.