She was celebrated by Lord Timpson’s charity as the very model of a reformed prisoner.
But when the convicted fraudster was employed by the Prison Reform Trust as head of finance and human resources, it paid a heavy price.
For seven years, Samantha O’Sullivan secretly plundered the charity’s coffers, stealing £307,000, which is more than the organisation received in gifts and donations last year.
Incredibly, the 57-year-old’s history of theft was well-known and even celebrated at the charity, which prides itself on offering ‘second chances’.
Yet she was able to fool its illustrious board of trustees – which included former justice secretary David Gauke, former Prisons and Probation Ombudsman Nigel Newcomen, and Lord Timpson, who led the trust over the period prior to becoming Prisons Minister last year.
