UK
Lindsay MacCallum: Aberfoyle woman stole £85,000 from best friend’s cancer charity
A charity boss who stole more than £95,000 from two cancer foundations – including one set up in memory of a best friend’s daughter – has been described as a “total narcissist” who “fooled everybody”.
Lindsay MacCallum, 61, was jailed for three years earlier this month for defrauding charity Rainbow Valley out of £85,978.48 while working as a project development manager.
She also stole £9,505 from Aberfoyle Friends of Anthony Nolan Trust – a stem cell donation charity – while employed as a fundraising manager.
Rainbow Valley was founded by Angela MacVicar in memory of her late daughter, Johanna, who died from leukaemia at the age of 27.
MacCallum, who also helped to set up the charity, had been friends with Ms MacVicar for more than 20 years.
At one point during their friendship, the pair would talk several times a day, with MacCallum even volunteering to read the eulogy at Johanna’s funeral.
Ms MacVicar’s daughter, Johanna, befriended pop star Robbie Williams through her leukaemia campaign work. Pic: PA
‘She fooled everybody’
Speaking to Sky News, Ms MacVicar said she at first did not want to believe her friend had deceived her.
She said: “I loved her, I trusted her, but she fooled everybody. She’s a total narcissist and it’s quite scary. It was all lies.
“She knows what she’s done. I’ve got nothing to say to her… I don’t even know who she is.”
MacCallum during an event. Pic: Rainbow Valley
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said MacCallum worked with the Anthony Nolan charity between 1995 and 2012.
Her role allowed her to carry out transactions provided any cheques were countersigned by one of two office bearers.
By 2007, the two signatories had left the group but the account for Aberfoyle Friends of Anthony Nolan remained open.
Forged signatures
MacCallum, of Aberfoyle in Stirlingshire, was made redundant from the charity in 2012 but continued to take funds from the account by forging signatures.
Falkirk Sheriff Court was told MacCallum made a number of unauthorised cheque payments between July 2011 and September 2016, with the former co-signatories recognising her handwriting during the police investigation.
Pic: Rainbow Valley
COPFS said MacCallum joined Rainbow Valley in 2012 and worked with Ms MacVicar for several years “before their relationship deteriorated”.
She stepped down in March 2022, but was snared later that year after a review of the accounts revealed several unaccounted-for-transactions linked to the charity’s annual ball.
Between 2013 and 2021, MacCallum deposited £48,027 into two personal bank accounts, £5,045 into a joint account with her husband, and £1,670 into accounts for her adult children.
She was also revealed to have spent £21,056 on a credit card as well as £4,210 on products from Next.
‘It hurts a lot’
Ms MacVicar, whose daughter Kendall uncovered the fraud, said: “She did it because she was greedy and vain. She liked people to think she was well-off.
“I’m just unfortunate that she preyed on my vulnerability. It hurts a lot because she actually asked to read Johanna’s eulogy at her funeral.”
Read more from Sky News:
Woman pleads guilty to assault after throwing milkshake at Nigel Farage
‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
MacCallum pleaded guilty to two charges of being involved in a fraudulent scheme when she appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court in August.
She was jailed for three years on her return to the dock on 8 October and will now be subject to confiscation action under proceeds of crime legislation.
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 MacCallum’s lifestyle.”