Art dealer used cancer charity funds on project to build giant dragon statue
Simon Wingett spent hundreds of thousands on plans for landmark that he hoped would rival the Angel of the North
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Your support makes all the difference.A cancer charity boss has been ordered to repay £117,000 after funnelling donations into a project to build a giant dragon statue in Wales.
Simon Wingett invested hundreds of thousands of pounds into plans for a 60-metre tall Wrexham landmark that he hoped would rival the Angel of the North.
His foundation, Frank Wingett Cancer Relief, ran a shop in a local hospital but had not made a single charitable donation in seven years when it closed in 2018.
It was set up by his father who had throat cancer and used donations to buy equipment and resources for cancer patients in Wrexham and the surrounding area.
The Charity Commission said it came under scrutiny after its funds were “misused” to support the creation of a “Welsh dragon statue as a tourist attraction”.
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“This project has no connection to advancing the charity’s aims and to date, no statue has been built,” it added.
Accounts showed Mr Wingett had invested £410,000 of the charity’s earnings across seven years in the project to build the dragon sculpture near the A5 in Chirk, Wrexham.
Mr Wingett, who is also an art dealer, has long claimed the huge bronze dragon would become a tourist attraction to rival well-known landmarks.
It had planning permission to be erected on a former colliery site.
Following an investigation by the Charity Commission which began in 2017, Mr Wingett was banned from acting as a trustee of any charity for 10 years.
He has now been ordered by the High Court of Justice to pay more than £117,000, which will be distributed to local charities supporting the relief of cancer patients treated in Wrexham.
Tracy Howarth from the Charity Commission said: “Charity trustees hold important positions of trust. We – and the public – expect trustees to ensure financial decisions are taken in the best interests of the charity and those it serves to benefit.”
“Mr Wingett’s significant misuse of funds was an abuse of the trust placed in him by the many donors to the charity.
She added: “This ruling will ensure the charitable proceeds raised are now directed to the benefit of those in the local community they were intended for.”
His charity ran a shop in Wrexham Maelor Hospital in North Wales until 2018.
Its last payment to a hospital was to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in 2011 and was made for £4,500.
Additional reporting by Press Association