Former Old Buckenham Parish Council clerk pleads guilty to embezzling £20,000 from its account

A parish council clerk who embezzled more than £20,000 from its bank account – almost the entire village’s tax take for a year – handed himself in to police before anyone noticed.

Jonnathan Hicks, 54, took the cash from Old Buckenham Parish Council over the course of the nine months he was in the role by writing cheques to himself while failing to complete payments that he was supposed to be making.

Councillors became suspicious about his activities but did not discover the account had been drained until after he went to Thetford Police Station to confess.

Hicks – who lived in the village and had previously served as a parish councillor for eight years, including as chairman – appeared at Norwich Crown Court this week where he pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position.

The court was told he had “dishonestly abused” his position to make personal gains. He will be sentenced next month and is facing up to four years in prison.

Until this week, villagers in Old Buckenham have been kept in the dark over the affair, with the parish council drawing a veil of secrecy over the case and locals shut out of meetings where it was discussed and minutes withheld.

In a statement following his court appearance, Naomi Bailey, council chairwoman, said Hicks, a former lorry driver, had orchestrated a “systemic pattern of deception”.

Hicks was first co-opted onto Old Buckenham Parish Council as a councillor in 2017 and has taken up various roles over the last few years.

He stepped into his role as clerk and responsible financial officer (RFO) in November 2023 and remained in the post until August 2024, when he resigned shortly after his arrest.

He pleaded guilty to committing fraud throughout his period as clerk and the court was told he may have taken up to £28,000 during this time.

However, his lawyer argued that some of the money may have been legitimate expenses taken by Hicks. This amount is yet to be calculated but sum obtained by fraud is currently estimated to be around £21,000.

This is almost the entire amount paid by locals to the parish through their council tax last year – which came to £22,700.

The court heard the former clerk, who has since moved to William O’Callaghan Place, Dereham, took advantage of his role on the council in order to “make gains for himself”.

Old Buckenham Parish Council has kept the affair under wraps since Hicks handed himself in to the police in August.

The authority held a meeting the following week to open a new bank account and create a new email address Hicks could not access, but forbade locals from attending due to concerns about prejudicing the ongoing investigation.

Members of the authority say they were not aware the account was being drained by Hicks until his arrest but that over the course of last summer, they had concerns about the “quality of work” being carried out.

In a statement issued on behalf of the council, Naomi Bailey, chairwoman, said: “Steps were then taken by councillors to establish what work had been completed and to what standard. During this process it became apparent that the quality of work was poor, some work had not been completed at all.

“A systemic pattern of deception emerged, orchestrated by Jonathan Hicks in his roles as clerk and RFO, involving false claims across all areas of his duties. This deception was designed to defraud public money for personal enrichment.

“Even more concerning was the fact that approved payments by the council had not been made to individuals and companies for several months.”

The statement added: “We were horrified to discover what had happened and have been working incredibly hard over the last six months to try and fix the mess we had been left with.

“We would like to remind residents that councillors are volunteers, who have their own families and work, and this process has been very stressful and demanding on our time and mental health.

“On a personal level, we were hurt and angry to discover that an ex-councillor, ex-chairman and ex-clerk could do something like this to the village he has called home for many years.

“While there is plenty of work still to do, matters are slowly getting sorted. Steps have been taken to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again. We ask that residents be patient and bear with us as we are still discovering issues, several months on.

“We will continue to look after our beautiful village and while it will take some time to reveal the full extent of the deception, the village and its residents will always be our top priority.”

The bank has since returned the funds to the parish council following its own investigation.

Hicks will appear in court again on February 17.