Sheffield Hospitals Charity has operated a lottery for a number of years, in order to raise funds to help support the costs of specialist equipment, pioneering research and patient support services.  Over the last five years SHC has been able to raise £3.2 million, which has been applied directly to these causes.

Sadly, Sheffield Hospitals Charity was a victim of a fraud perpetrated by an external provider of services to Sheffield Hospitals Charity, which led to the loss of a significant amount of money, which would otherwise have been applied to these causes.  Sheffield Hospitals Charity was one of a number of victims of the fraudster.

The fraud did not affect any of the lottery players (or payment of any prizes), it simply affected the revenue generated for the charity.

Gareth Aston, CEO of Sheffield Hospitals Charity, said:

“We are deeply upset and saddened by the events which have taken place. As a charity, our biggest responsibility and priority is to assist our beneficiaries, and we rely on the wonderful supporters of the charity to be able to achieve that.

We welcome the outcome of the case and we will do everything within our power to recover the outstanding funds.

Sheffield Hospitals Charity has taken extensive measures to ensure this can never happen again. We are a victim of this crime and hope that lessons can be learned from our experiences to ensure that no one else has to suffer in the same way”.

The service provider in question, Capen Limited, was licensed and regulated by The Gambling Commission and had satisfied all of the regulatory checks. In what is a standard arrangement, Capen acted as the authorised external lottery manager, and dealt with the financial transactions.

Criminal charges were brought against Simon Rydings, a Director of Capen, in respect of the widespread fraudulent activity which resulted in SHC and other charities losing a substantial amount of money.

Sheffield Hospitals Charity has carried out a thorough review of its processes and, through an abundance of caution, even more stringent security measures have been put in place concerning the handling of funds such that all sums generated by the lottery are now paid directly to Sheffield Hospitals Charity by the collection company, and Sheffield Hospitals Charity is confident that there is no prospect of any such fraud being perpetrated against Sheffield Hospitals Charity in the future. The charity no longer works with or has links to Capen Ltd and Directors

We wish to assure all of our lottery players, present and future, that the proceeds from any tickets purchased will benefit the charitable causes which we fight so hard to maintain and improve.