George Gordon, 52, posed as a vicar and conned money out of charities claiming it was for support groups, outreach work and social workers. 
 
Gordon obtained an “ordination” certificate from the Internet, and collected around £90,000 from the Merseyside Disability Foundation by applying for grants of £5,000. 
 
Gordon used fake names, signatures, community groups and organisations to obtain the grants from the MDF, and also became a member of the panel that allocated funding, including those which determined his fraudulent applications.
 
Previously jailed for similar offences, Gordon admitted 20 counts including fraud and obtaining money transfers by deception between 2005 and 2007. 
 
Judge Stephen Everett said: “You clothed yourself with an air of respectability and trustworthiness.
In doing so you used that false cloth, that veneer of respectability, to dupe a number of honest, decent and vulnerable persons to achieve your dishonest aims”.
 
The Judge sentenced Gordon to five years for each count, to be served concurrently.
 
Please click here to read the full story as reported by the Liverpool Echo.
 
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