Accountant jailed over £1m care home theft

M&M News Services

An accountant who stole over £1 million from a south Belfast care home which almost caused a "cash flow crisis" within the charity was sent to jail today (Friday, January 3).

Michael Kinder - whose offending was linked to his addiction to the powerful painkiller Oxycontin - was handed a three-and-a-half year sentence at Belfast Crown Court for defrauding the Nazareth House Care Village of £1,036,955.92

Telling Kinder his actions have led to a loss of his professional reputation, Judge Kevin Finnegan QC told the 52-year old father of four that he will spend 18 months of his sentence in prison, followed by a two-year period on licence.

Whilst a Crown barrister cited Kinder's offending as a "spectacular fall from grace", a defence barrister pointed out that all of the money stolen by her client had been paid back to the charity.

Before passing sentence on Kinder, from Maryville Park in south Belfast, Judge Finnegan was told that the former accountant had admitted three charges - namely fraud by abuse of position, converting criminal property and false accounting.

The offending was committed over a six-and-a-half year period - from April 2011 to October 2017 - when Kinder was responsible for the financial affairs of the care village on the Ravenhill Road in Belfast.