Vicar who stole £16,500 fees for weddings and funerals including one for a soldier killed in Afghanistan and then went on the run to Germany is jailed for nearly 3 years

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A vicar who fled to Germany shortly before being convicted of stealing £16,500 in church fees - including for the funeral of a soldier killed in Afghanistan - has been jailed for nearly three years.

Simon Reynolds, 50, pocketed the fees from 32 marriages and 23 burials while serving as a clergyman at All Saints Church in Darton, Barnsley.

Among the missing fees were those paid by the Ministry of Defence for the funeral of Matthew Thornton, a Territorial Army soldier who was killed in a bomb blast in Afghanistan.

Runaway: Reverend Simon Reynolds, 50, from All Saints Church in Darton, Barnsley, who fled to Germany shortly before being convicted of stealing £16,500 in church fees - including for the funeral of soldier Matthew Thornton (right) who was killed in a bomb blast in Afghanistan - has now been jailed for nearly three years

The court heard that 50 cremation plaques or inscriptions were also found in the church grounds of which no records had been made.

Reynolds has now been jailed for 32 months for theft and skipping bail.

Just before he was convicted of the thefts, Reynolds had vanished from Sheffield Crown Court, sparking a manhunt as he fled to Dussledorf in Germany. 

He finally handed himself into police yesterday after five days on the run.  

Sentencing him at Sheffield Crown Court, Judge Julian Goose QC told Reynolds: 'Your community, who allowed you into their home and their lives, have had their trust broken by what you did.'  

The court heard how Reynolds had been suffering from 'real personal trauma' when he made his escape bid last week and was 'fleeing from what he was feeling'.

His barrister Alisdair Campbell added that he had meant to catch a flight to Dublin, but had mistakenly booked a different journey to the German city. 

Before he disappeared, Reynolds had faced a week-long trial at Sheffield Crown Court during which he denied four charges of theft.

But, as the jury broke for lunch during their deliberations, he disappeared. When he did not turn up for the verdict, Mr Campbell had told the court: 'I have no explanation for why he is not in court.'

The court heard how Reynolds first went back to his hotel in Sheffield before travelling to Manchester Airport, from where he travelled to Germany.   

Among the missing fees were those paid by the Ministry of Defence for the funeral of Matthew Thornton (pictured), a Territorial Army soldier who was killed in a bomb blast in Afghanistan

South Yorkshire Police alerted Interpol while senior clergy had appealed for Reynolds to hand himself in, including the Right Reverend Tony Robinson, Bishop of Wakefield, and the Venerable Peter Townley, the Archdeacon of Pontefract.

But the vicar - who was the clergyman at Darton from March 2007 until March 2013 - yesterday handed himself into the police in an arranged appointment.

Reynolds' trial heard he had not paid any fees for weddings or funerals to the Wakefield Diocesan Board of Finance for a number of years, despite conducting a number of services during this time.  

The judge said he had identified 32 individual marriages for which Reynolds appears to have pocketed the fees.  

Monuments for 23 burials and 50 cremation plaques or inscriptions were also found in the church grounds and graveyard but no records of the burials or cremations had been made.  

Reynolds vanished from Sheffield Crown Court while a jury deliberated over whether he had stolen £16,500 in church fees. The court heard he had meant to go to Dublin but accidentally booked a flight to Dussledorf

During his trial, the court had heard how, as priest in charge, he was paid a stipend - or salary - and had make a monthly declaration of all the fees he had received for services. He then had to hand them over to the church authorities.

But the court heard how he had the cheques made out to him personally and he paid them into his own bank account. 

The vicar - who worked at St Paul's Cathedral before moving to Yorkshire - also said he had waived fees for weddings and funerals for long-standing parishioners.

Reynolds admitted that he was 'pretty incompetent' at financial matters and said: 'I took a view that people were more important than money.'

Describing his book-keeping duties, he added: 'Frankly it was a bore. It just got put to one side.'

He also denied helping himself to the fees and said he found it hard to distinguish between his money and the church's as it was 'jostling side by side'.   

The 50-year-old, from Farnham, Surrey, was found guilty of four counts of thefts after taking wedding and funeral fees from All Saints church in Darton, Barnsley, where he worked for six years 

'I wouldn't have consciously spent money that wasn't mine. I only had everyday living expenses, I don't have expensive hobbies,' he claimed.

'It wasn't all one way. My negligence, my oversight, my incompetence wasn't trying to dishonestly retain money which was not mine. I lost out in the process as well.' 

But Judge Goose said: 'I'm not impressed with that explanation. It seems to me that training and deficiencies in administration had very little to do with the dishonesty you have undertaken.'  

The prosecution had argued that Reynolds should have handed over £14,600 in fees for all the weddings and funerals he conducted at the church during his time there.

In addition, they estimated that another £9,726 should have been paid to the church in relation to burials, cremation plaques and monuments. 

Today, Judge Goose said that, by his calculations, at least £16,500 had been taken.  

Speaking after the sentencing, Caroline Tubb, Senior Crown Prosecutor, CPS Yorkshire and Humberside, said: 'It is hard to imagine a more deplorable and flagrant breach of trust than a vicar stealing money from his own parishioners.

'The offences he has committed are of an enormous significance considering the position of trust that Reynolds held within his community. The qualities one would most associate with his position - honesty, trust and integrity - have been completely abandoned in an attempt to fund his lifestyle.

'These offences were further compounded when he absconded after his trial, triggering an extensive manhunt. The sentence handed down today sends a clear message that no-one is above the law, and we will prosecute all such cases robustly.'