Charity worker steals theme park tickets meant for terminally-ill children

A charity worker was found of stealing and then selling theme park tickets meant for terminally-ill children in a scam in which she stole around $39,000.

The woman, identified as Heidi Bucknall hailing from United Kingdom’s Nottingham, sold the Alton Towers and Legoland tickets on eBay that were gifted to the sick children, a UK media outlet reported.

A UK court was told that the accused also invented imaginary terminally-ill children to receive grant in their names during her employment as an administration assistant.

It was revealed that Bucknall stole a whopping $39,000 from the Parents’ Association for Seriously Ill Children in a span of six years.

During the court hearing, the prosecutor said that the woman defrauded the charity to the tune of around $39,000.

Nottingham Crown Court sent her to jail for two years and four months after Heidi Bucknall pleaded guilty to charges of fraud.

During her sentencing, Judge Steven Coupland said: “It is difficult to think of a more appalling series of offences. You, out of everyone, well understood the good work the charity that employed you did for people because you were a cancer survivor yourself.”

“The defendant, herself a survivor of childhood cancer, exploited the very charity which had once supported her in two principal ways. Firstly, by selling off on eBay gifted vouchers to theme parks and attractions designed to provide suffering children and their families the opportunity to spend precious time together,” the judge added.