A Perthshire charity boss who stole more than £85,000 from a Scottish cancer foundation set up in memory of her best friend’s daughter was jailed for three years.
Lindsay MacCallum, 61, defrauded Rainbow Valley of £85,978 and embezzled £9,505 from the stem cell charity the Anthony Nolan Trust.
Mother-of-two MacCallum, of Aberfoyle – despite being described as in no financial difficulty – forged signatures of charity staff and rerouted cash from fundraising accounts for her own use between 2011 and 2021.
She was told by a sheriff she had “systematically and deliberately” perpetrated “calculating” frauds on the third sector organisations and “betrayed” cancer victims.
MacCallum, who appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court by video link from prison, hung her head as Sheriff Maryam Labaki added: “The purpose of the Rainbow Valley charity was to support the families of those suffering from cancer.
“You betrayed those who are suffering, and the terminally ill and their families.
“You deprived them of funds raised in good faith.
“You have brought devastation to those who trusted you.”
‘Heartbreaking’ thefts
The court heard MacCallum siphoned £50,000 into her own bank accounts and those of her adult children.
She worked as a fundraising manager for the Anthony Nolan Trust from 1995 to 2012 before she left to set up Rainbow Valley with best friend Angela MacVicar, 64.
In 2005, Angela lost her daughter Johanna, 27, to leukaemia and the foundation was established in her honour.
The pair worked together for ten years before a fall-out in 2022.
Angela stumbled upon MacCallum’s decade of deceit through discrepancies in an account set up for a fundraising ball.
Outside court, Mrs MacVicar said: “It is heartbreaking when an individual creates negativity within the third sector.
“The ripple effect of Lindsay MacCallum runs deep and I ask that people remember this was one person and one person alone who breached the trust which was bestowed upon her.”
She added: “There was no mention from her about what this has done to our family and my daughter’s name.
“I think she was sorry she was caught – no mention of being sorry for the devastation she has caused us and Johanna’s memory.
“I was bereft when I found out what she had done, totally bereft.
“She was my best friend, and I trusted her implicitly, as did everybody.
“She fooled everybody.”
Apology message
Katie Cunningham, prosecuting, told the court: “The accused sent a message to Mrs MacVicar stating, ‘I’m really sorry Angela. I hate myself, I’m trying to make it right. I’ve let everyone down and Fraser is distraught’.
“She said she was ashamed and it was ‘abhorrent’ that she had transferred money from the account into her own.
“The accused said her daughter was in terrible trouble and needed access to money.
“She said that she was finding it difficult to live with herself.”
Miss Cunningham said: “A bank account called Aberfoyle Friends of the Anthony Nolan Trust remained open from July 2011 to 2016.
“The accused debited that account and paid into her own account.
“The payments were signed by another charity member but when asked about these signatures, she said they were not her signature.”
MacCallum was made project development manager of Rainbow Valley and in 2014 was given a charity credit card to replace using a Friends of Rainbow Valley bank account.
But the account remained in use and it was not until August 2022 that questions were raised over transactions.
Proceeds of Crime hearing
MacCallum, a first offender, former Royal Navy servicewoman, and one-time assistant to an MP, pled guilty to two fraud charges totalling £95,483.
Defence advocate Deirdre Flanagan said MacCallum, who expressed “shame and mortification”, had already paid back £25,000, is able to repay the rest, and intended to do so.
Asked by the sheriff what MacCallum’s explanation was, Ms Flanagan replied: “I have consulted with her many times and she is not able to tell me.”
Helen Nisbet, Procurator Fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said: “This was a shocking betrayal of trust by someone who had financial oversight of funds from two cancer charities.
“I am sure people will be appalled that charity donations given in good faith and intended to benefit some of those affected by cancer have been stolen to fund McCallum’s lifestyle.”
MacCallum will face a court hearing in November under the Proceeds of Crime Act at which the Crown will seek an order to confiscate her ill-gotten gains.
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