Sole trustee of Yorkshire village charity spent its money on renovating his house and buying £69,000 antique clocks

Hugh Morgan-Williams, 70, took on the role of trustee for the Cowesby Trust in 2008, and acted alone until 2016 despite the charity being legally required to have three trustees in post at all times.

The Cowesby Trust was registered in 1963 with the aim of relieving distress and hardship of those resident in the parish near Thirsk.

In the report published earlier this month, the Commission sets out how it was contacted by North Yorkshire Police in 2016 over suspicious activity in the Trust’s bank account. Several payments totalling £48,000 had been transferred from the account to one linked to Mr Morgan-Williams between 2014 and 2016, and there was also a £69,500 payment to a company specialising in the sale of antique clocks. An inquiry was then opened and representatives met Mr Morgan-Williams in 2017.

He told them that the renovation of a house he owned had been paid for by ‘loans’ from the charity, yet there was no evidence anyone else had authorised the loans and it was not explained how the unsecured £110,000 investment would benefit the charity. Between 2012 and 2016, he received £121,718 from the Trust, none of which was recorded by the charity’s minutes. A document detailing an agreement made in 2009 did not explain the repayment schedule or interest rate of the supposed loan that he would underwrite. Mr Morgan-Williams told the meeting that the property had been put up for sale, which would enable him to repay the loan with interest.

The inquiry then found that he had used £69,000 of the charity’s funds to purchase two antique Mulberry longcase clocks which were then found at his house and were listed on his personal home contents insurance policy. He claimed the clocks had been an investment for the Trust, but no documentation could be found.

The clocks were confiscated and sold at auction, but only generated £26,000.

In 2020, Mr Morgan-Williams made a settlement of £136,000 in sums owed to the charity.

The inquiry further found that from 2009 until 2016, the charity did not spend money in ‘furtherance of its objects’ and had not operated for the public benefit, with the only expenditure benefitting Mr Morgan-Williams.

Since 2018, three trustees have been in place as required by the charity’s governing document.

The report concluded: “The Commission concluded that Mr Morgan-Williams had been acting as sole trustee in contravention of the charity’s governing document for a period of at least nine years. This enabled him to act unilaterally and without scrutiny. During this period there was no evidence of charitable activity and the only person to benefit from the charity was Mr Morgan-Williams. His decisions to use over £100,000 to renovate his personal property and to use the charity’s funds to purchase antique clocks which he subsequently had sole use and enjoyment of was in breach of trust and not in the charity’s best interests.

"Mr Morgan-Williams was responsible for serious misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity. The Commission subsequently disqualified him from acting as a trustee of any charity and from holding an office or employment with senior management functions in charities generally for 10 years, from 31 August 2018.”

In June, Mr Morgan Williams, of Thornton-le-Moor, appeared for sentencing at Teesside Crown Court over a £27,000 fraud of a not-for-profit organisation while he was acting as chair.

However, fraud and false accounting charges relating to the Cowesby Trust were discontinued due to a lack of evidence.

It was found that he had taken a cut of an ICT contract while at the probation service company in County Durham, despite the payment not being authorised. He submitted invoices for consultancy fees that were paid into his Coutts bank account.

However the businessman, who was made OBE in 2008, was not jailed as both he and his wife are in poor health. Their four children have ‘shunned’ him as a result of the court case. He was given a 17-month suspended sentence.

Mr Morgan-Williams has been the director of a number of companies, including Queen Mary’s, a fee-paying girls’ boarding school near Thirsk, from 2003-2016. He was also chair of the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust.