A church treasurer who stole £33,000 to blow on adult websites was conned himself when a man posing as a woman swiped the cash.
Lonely Ian Muschamp siphoned off funds that would have been used to pay for building work at the church.
The 67-year-old blew the lot chatting to what he thought were women on adult websites.
But one of them – who called herself “Jessica” and who swallowed up most of his cash – turned out to be a bloke.
Muschamp’s scam was uncovered by an auditor, and he was hauled before a court where he admitted three fraud charges.
Judge Recorder Paul Taylor told him: “There is a saying ‘there is no fool like an old fool’ – and you are living proof of that.”
Muschamp forged signatures on cheques to withdraw cash from the bank account of Bolton’s St Helen’s Road Methodist Church every month for two-and-a-half years, Bolton Crown Court heard.
When he was rumbled Muschamp, who had acted as treasurer since 2017, immediately confessed. He told police he had used the money to “speak to women on adult websites”.
Other churchgoers were asked to co-sign blank cheques each month after being told they were for “legitimate expenses”.
His crimes had caused a “lot of problems” for the church, as future building plans had to be put on hold, said James Preece, prosecuting.
Kevin Liston, defending, said Muschamp had made an “ill-judged decision” due to “social isolation and loneliness”.
He added: “He was himself duped by a man calling himself ‘Jessica’ and was exposed to vulnerability and fraud. My client is a lonely man of modest financial means who has been caught up in an unsavoury matter.”
Muschamp, who is suffering from bladder cancer, was given a 16-month suspended jail sentence and a six-month curfew.
The judge told him: “You were tricked by ‘Jessica’ who was in fact a man, and who is now under investigation for telling sob stories.’’
