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Director of Jewish charity in Scotland sentenced after embezzling over £54,000
Catherine Bell, 70, admitted to stealing the money from the charity over the course of five years
July 15, 2025 14:00
Catherine Bell, 70, admitted to stealing the money from the charity over the course of five years
July 15, 2025 14:00A director of a Jewish charity which helps those in hardship has been jailed after admitting to embezzling tens of thousands of pounds.
Catherine Bell, 70, the charity's former deputy chief executive, owned up to stealing over £54,000 from Jewish Care Scotland between October 1 2013 and October 25 2018. Her senior role within the organisation allowed her to be in charge of authorising payments and she used this position for her personal gain.
Jewish Care Scotland - which is entirely separate to Jewish Care, the largest health and social care provider for the Jewish community in England - is based in Giffnock’s Walton Centre, and has a fund which sets aside money to pay out to those members of the Jewish community in desperate need.
According to an article in the Daily Record, Bell set up both one-off and weekly payments between £35 and £70 to four families whom she dubbed "the usual four". However, they never received a penny as Bell was secretly keeping all the cash.
Bell attended a trial at Paisley Sheriff court last month. There, legal representative Jason Stark said that Bell’s duties included authorising payment of money from the hardship fund to members of the Jewish community “who were suffering financially”.
He said that from February 2015, Bell would apply for hardship funds of between £35 and £70 each for four families. As well as the regular payments, Bell would also apply for one-off payments, he said.
It was only when the then CEO of the charity, Julie Marshall, did a compliance check in October, 2018, that suspicions arose.
Stark said: “Over the coming days, it was identified by the witness Marshall that the accused was not registered on the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) for social workers."
This finding led to Bell having to leave the charity while an internal investigation took place. It was during this internal investigation when Bell’s deception was uncovered.
In December 2018, an accountant carried out an audit of the hardship fund, which revealed that Bell had misappropriated £54,435 from it, said Stark.
Bell returned to court for sentencing on Monday. According to the Glasgow Times, her defence lawyer said her client had "no pattern of previous offending" and had significant health issues.
She added that Bell had "made a grievous error of judgement” to support her family and her addiction to alcohol, but that she was now sober.
"She's very remorseful. She recognises how shameful her conduct was."
Despite the lawyer’s efforts to mitigate Bell’s punishment, Sheriff Brian Mohan said to Bell that she had carried out "a calculated and cunning campaign.
"People had no doubt donated to that charity. Your actions would have caused reputational damage."
Bell was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
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