A FORMER soldier who was trusted to count his church's donations but who stole more than £30,000 has avoided jail after a judge suspended his jail sentence.
In suspending 62-year-old Eamon Shiels' two year jail term for three years at Antrim Crown Court, Judge Melody McReynolds told the self-confessed thief the only motivation she could discern for him stealing around £30,000 from the Cunningham Memorial Presbyterian Church was "simple materialism."
She told the former RIR colour sergeant his seven years of theft and fraud had resulted in a loss which was "more than financial".
"Your fellow committee members suffered. They had their faith tested and they felt badly let down", said Judge McReynolds.
At an earlier hearing Shiels, from Oldpark Avenue in Ballymena, entered guilty pleas to three counts of theft totalling ££2,030 including £600 from the Sunday School collection plate and fraud by abusing the position of trust he held within the Cullybackey church, all committed on various dates between July 2008 and April 2015.
Opening the Crown case, prosecuting counsel Suzanne Gallagher said while the fraud count related to Shiels stealing £33,580 or thereabouts, she revealed the church's insurance company had agreed to pay out £46,910.
Shiels repeatedly denied doing anything wrong but eventually admitted to being the person responsible for stealing the money in that March and the previous August, also confessing that none of the other members of the group were aware or involved.
From 2008 to 2015, the church estimated at a minimum, a total of £33,580, was stolen by Shiels and Ms Gallagher revealed that since his detection, 'there have been no further irregularities'.
The judge told Shiels, she would have imposed a 30 month sentence but that in light of the mitigating factors, she would reduce that to 24 months and after careful consideration, had decided to suspend his jail sentence because of his age, and the "sheer level of shame with which this defendant will have to live in a small, rural community".
