Donegal woman pleads not guilty plea to charges linked to alleged £1m fraud

A Donegal live-in care worker who was once lauded for her cross-community charity work in Derry is to go on trial before Derry city's Crown Court after she pleaded not guilty to a total of 25 charges linked to an alleged £1,000,000 fraud involving the inland revenue.

Wendy MacBean, 60, from Railway Park in St Johnston, is alleged to have committed 25 offences between October 2017 and May 2020 when she was employed by Foyle Youth And Community Association.

At her arraignment before Judge Neil Rafferty KC the defendant replied not guilty to a single charge of cheating the Inland Revenue by claiming that the charity had received donations of £1,009,367 for which she then claimed Gift Aid of £252,364.

She also pleaded not guilty to nine charges of fraud by claiming that the charity had received the £1,009,367 and she further denied nine charges of transferring £94,676 from the charity's account to her own account.

The defendant additionally denied six charges of forging donations and sponsorship forms in the name of the charity.

Following her not guilty pleas to all twenty-five charges, Judge Rafferty said when the case was last before him in April he was told that negotiations were taking place between the defendant and her legal team regarding the allegations.

Defence barrister Eoghan Devlin KC replied: "We will need a trial and we have consulted extensively".

A prosecution barrister said that a total of 17 witnesses were involved in the case, some of whom he hoped could be agreed before any trial.

Mr Devlin said that a number of those witnesses were contentious and that the trial would last at least one week.

Judge Rafferty adjourned the case until June 26 and said: "The clock is not ticking today in terms of credit but that could well be reviewed on June 26". He then released the defendant on continuing bail until then.