The High Court has ordered a cancer charity executive to pay over £117,000 to local cancer causes for using public donations to fund plans to construct a massive Welsh dragon.
The foundation of Simon Wingett operated a shop in Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
But by the time it closed in 2018, not a single donation had been made, and the dragon was never constructed.
Mr. Wingett invested £410,000 of the charity’s earnings into the Chirk, Wrexham sculpture project.
The bronze dragon was permitted to be erected near the A5 on a former coal mine site.
Long ago, he asserted that it would become a tourist attraction comparable to the Angel of the North.
After being diagnosed with throat cancer in the 1980s, his father founded Frank Wingett Cancer Relief to provide cancer patients in Wrexham and the surrounding area with equipment and resources.
It made a payment of £4,500 to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in 2011.
Following a 2017 investigation by the Charity Commission, Mr. Wingett was prohibited from serving as a charity trustee for ten years.
The High Court has now ordered him to pay more than £117,000, which will be distributed to local charities supporting cancer patients receiving treatment in Wrexham.
Thursday, the charity regulator stated that the dragon statue project had “no connection to advancing the charity’s goals, and no statue has been constructed to date.”
The commission’s assistant director of casework, Tracy Howarth, stated: “The public and we expect trustees to ensure that all financial decisions are made in the best interests of the charity and those it serves.
“The significant misuse of funds by Mr. Wingett was a violation of the trust placed in him by the numerous donors to the charity.
This ruling will ensure that the funds raised for charity will now go to the intended beneficiaries in the local community.
