A LOVE of expensive hotels, sharp suits and exclusive pens proved to be the downfall of the man who headed up the Butterwick Hospice for more than 20 years.

Graham Leggatt-Chidgey mixed with all the right people in the business world during his tenure as chief executive of the charity but his greed for the lavish lifestyle led to his fall from grace.

Leaving Teesside Crown Court after changing his plea at the eleventh hour he refused to apologise for his behaviour, simply saying his solicitor had advised him to make 'no comment'.

And it was revealed that the loss of trust in the charity had cost it at least £100,000 in donations and fundraising efforts.

Suspicion was aroused at the charity’s Stockton headquarters when he started to fail to turn up to work when expected and a closer inspection of his working practices started to unveil systematic abuse of a corporate credit card.

The once trusted chief executive defrauded tens of thousands of pounds from the charity over an eight-year period – with unauthorised hotel stays, first class travel, designer suits and a huge collection of Mont Blanc pens – all adding an unnecessary financial burden to the charity.

However, his dishonest behaviour has cast a huge shadow over the charity, which was set up by Mary Butterwick, with a loss of trust in the community still impacting on their ability to raise vital cash to ensure people have a dignified end to life.

Leggatt-Chidgey had created an atmosphere of invincibility or fear amongst staff during his two-decade long tenure but when his behaviour was brought to the attention of the chairwoman of trustees Judith Hunter – his empire started to crumble.

The highly experienced nurse, who was at one time the head of the Royal College of Nursing, decided to have a thorough inspection of the charity’s accounts and started to spot a number of discrepancies and abuses.

However, Ms Hunter’s most difficult task has been rebuilding the public’s trust and confidence in the work of the charity.

She said: “It has been very difficult for the hospice because people have clearly lost confidence in our organisation within the local community and we rely really heavily on people to support us as we only get 25 per cent funding for all the services we provide in the hospices from the NHS.

“We rely on people actually raising the money; on children having coffee mornings with their families; schools having actually supported us; people in local pubs putting change in tins to support the hospice – every penny counts for the hospice.

“We need about £4m a year in order to actually provide the quality care, that we actually do, for the local people.”

Explaining some of the abuse and difficulties staff and volunteers have faced since the news of Leggatt-Chidgey’s thefts broke, she added: “Some of our staff have been shouted at in pubs, they actually think it’s our staff and volunteers who have been stealing money, and it certainly isn’t.

“They have been accused of being thieves but this is sadly the work of one man, the former chief executive, who was a skilled fraudster and he has duped this organisation.

“People clearly have lost confidence but fortunately the team here have rallied round and supported each-other and it has been wonderful to watch the charity go from strength to strength under our new chief executive.

“We have worked very hard to support people to make sure people felt able and confident to continue raise that money. Clearly, now that the court case has been held people will see the full picture of what has actually happened here, and they will see that it was the work of one individual.

“This isn’t a systemic thing that has occurred across the organisation, this is one individual, a bad apple, in amongst hundreds and hundreds of fantastic people who have come to help the hospice every day of the week for 365 days a year, supporting the hospice, providing care and raising money to ensure that local people receive the care that they most need at the time they most need it.”

On a positive note, Ms Hunter said she would happily welcome back any fundraisers, staff or volunteers who left the charity with 'no questions asked'.