The ring-leader dressed up as Pudsey Bear in order to take phony donations from well-meaning shoppers
David Levi (left) and Martin Ebanks (right)(Image: CPS/SWNS)
Fraudsters who dressed up as Pudsey Bear to fraudulently raise an estimated £500,000 have been told to repay more than £100,000 to the charities they impersonated.
David Levi, 49, from Lytham St Annes, and Stephen Chesterman, 64, from Benfleet in Essex, were part of a criminal gang that swindled the public out of thousands of pounds by feigning to collect charity donations.
The ringleader, Levi, even donned the iconic Pudsey Bear costume to gather fake donations from unsuspecting, well-meaning shoppers outside supermarkets – with less than 10 per cent of donations actually reaching the intended charities.
The group collected on behalf of charities such as Great Ormond Street Hospital, Children in Need and Comic Relief. Levi was sentenced to five years in prison back in 2023.
He has now been ordered to repay £4,438. If he fails to do so, the fraudster could face an additional three months behind bars, reports Yorkshire Live.
His accomplice, Stephen Chesterman, has been given three months to repay £102,618. If he doesn’t, it could result in an 18-month prison sentence on top of his previous 22 months.
The recovered funds will be distributed to Children in Need, The Children’s Society, Mind, and Great Ormond Street Hospital. The counterfeit charity collectors travelled across the country to solicit donations outside supermarkets, threatening to expose employees to the media or report them if they were confronted.
Prosecutors have pinpointed around £500,000 in cash deposits funnelled into the bank accounts of a group of seven individuals.
Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor of the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, commented: “These men preyed on the good will of members of the public, who believed their money was going to help people. Instead, the money was stolen to fund their own lifestyles.
“We are pleased that the money obtained by fraud is finally being given to the deserved charities, and the defendants have not benefitted from their ill-gotten gains.”