Kensington and Chelsea council finance manager, 39, who ran Grenfell victims’ fund, stole £62,000 and spent it on herself with expensive meals, online gambling and trips to Dubai and LA
- Council worker spent money for victims on holidays and online gambling
- Survivors ask how she could have spirited away so much relief money
- MP demands review of how donations were handled in wake of the disaster
A council finance manager who was supposed to be helping Grenfell Tower survivors secretly splashed £60,000 on credit cards meant for those made homeless by the blaze.
Jenny McDonagh stole money meant for survivors of the west London tragedy, spending it on holidays to Dubai and Los Angeles, as well as expensive dinners out, designer hairstyles and online gambling.
Victims of the fire reacted in fury to the news that one of the people meant to be helping them was instead pocketing money meant for survivors and victims’ families.
The shocking case raises further questions about how Kensington and Chelsea borough council handled relief money in the wake of the tragedy, in which 72 people died.
Jenny McDonagh, 39 (pictured) today admitted stealing money meant for Grenfell survivors
A spokesman for the group Justice4Grenfell told MailOnline: ‘We are always shocked at people who see this desperate situation and their only cause of action is to defraud. Some people don’t have any scruples.
‘It is appalling that people take advantage of a situation in which vulnerable people were waiting to be housed – this money could have been used for that purpose.
‘The case also raises questions of scrutiny at the council. We are surprised that she was allowed to do this when she should have been properly monitored.’
Westminster Magistrates Court heard 39-year-old McDonagh, from Abbey Wood, south-east London, is also under investigation for two suspected frauds in her previous jobs, one at the NHS and another at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
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McDonagh pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by abuse of position, one count of theft by employee and one count of money laundering this afternoon.
Reacting to the case, Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad said: ‘How on earth did a Council officer steal £62,000 of Grenfell funding without missing it for so long? It brings up very serious questions about who had access to the prepaid cards she used, and who was responsible for auditing this.
‘A number of residents have already asked me if the Council will review this employee’s work over the past 14 months? She may have been making life-changing decisions with the lives of vulnerable people. They will be devastated.
‘This is a very serious breach of trust and the Council must conduct a full audit of donations to see if any more has been stolen.’
McDonagh, pictured with her husband Thomas, who, the court heard, ‘does not want her to return to the matrimonial home’ because of the scandal she had caused
Today’s court hearing was told she stole pre-paid cash cards while working as manager of the Grenfell Fire fund at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
She even continued to use the stolen cards, which were meant for survivors without bank accounts, after police quizzed her under investigation in August 2018, the court heard.
In the case of one Grenfell victim, Edward Dafforn, he was given a pre-paid card by mistake, which McDonagh then used herself.
Prosecutor Mr Simpson said: ‘Mr Dafforn always indicated he wanted money paid into a bank account, however initially by error he was issued one of those top-up cards in his name.
‘He then indicated via his social worker he wanted payments to be made into his bank account.
‘The defendant continued keeping the top up card alive and was responsible for it being topped up and used it to the tune in the subject of the charge.’
McDonagh took money from a card meant for Edward Dafforn, who had lived in Grenfell for 20 years and had campaigned about poor fire safety in the building
Prosecutor Robert Simpson described McDonagh as a ‘serial fraudster’ who ‘lives beyond her means and gambles’.
Mr Simpson added that the fraud was ‘unsophisticated’ because she left a ‘clear paper trail.’
He told the hearing: ‘It was unsophisticated. Even though she was using fraud funds she was booking restaurants and hair appointments and so-on in her own name, thus the guilty pleas.
‘The whole trail leads towards her. She spent quite a lot of money on online gambling.
‘She spent £32,000 of which £16,000 was winnings and lost roughly £16,000 in online gambling.’
The prosecutor said of her arrest and subsequent re-offending: ‘She was bailed on August 1 in relation to these matters and continued on using those cards on August 3.
‘The fact that she had been arrested and interviewed and didn’t stop dead in her tracks.’
The local community remembers those who died in the blaze at a vigil held after the fire
Mr Simpson said McDonagh is married, but that her husband ‘does not want her to return to the matrimonial home’ because of the scandal she had caused.
The prosecutor said McDonagh had previously worked for the Medway NHS Trust, which is also investigating her for fraud.
He said: ‘She worked for Medway NHS Trust in 2015 and 2016.
‘They have been investigating her time working in that NHS Trust and there is a current fraud investigation launched in 2017 and ongoing by the NHS fraud investigators.
‘It’s suggested that she obtained about £35,000 by means of fraud when she was working for the NHS Trust.’
After leaving her job with the NHS, McDonagh then worked briefly for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where she is also suspected of committing fraud.
McDonagh was working at Kensington and Chelsea borough council, which came in for strong criticism over safety at the tower before and after the fire. The council HQ is pictured
Mr Simpson said: ‘She was then working for the V&A museum in the interim period between NHS and having this job being in charge of managing people from the Grenfell fire fund.
‘There’s again a fraud investigation going on into her behaviour at the V&A museum.
‘She was using her position to alter vendors’ details on the system from having no bank account details to having her own personal Santander account details. That fraud had not got far enough for her to obtain anything from it.’
The court heard police also sought charges linked to the suspected V&A fraud.
But Mr Simpson said: ‘The person who was dealing with that over the telephone said that was a more complicated fraud, there was quite a lot of material. The NHS one is in the same position.’
He added: ‘She has, I’m told, friends in LA, she’s already been to LA once this year. I’m told there is a trip to LA booked in October this year.
‘Her husband does not want her to return to the matrimonial home as he doesn’t want the press hanging around his house. The great worry is she gets another job and carries on defrauding.’
She becomes the 11th person to be charged with fraud offences relating to the Grenfell disaste (fire pictured) with five people put behind bars
McDonagh appeared in the dock wearing a large green coat and showed no emotion as the details of her offending were relayed to the court. A bail hearing is expected this afternoon.
McDonagh becomes the 11th person to be charged with fraud offences relating to the Grenfell disaster, with five people put behind bars.
Some 72 people died as a result of the fire on June 14 last year.
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