Ex-Guernsey election candidate admits stealing from cancer charity

Tuesday 08 February 2022

A candidate who came within 1,000 votes of being elected as a Guernsey politician has pleaded guilty to stealing £1,500 from two charities.

Richard Skipper (56) appeared in the Magistrate's Court yesterday, facing four charges of dishonestly appropriating charitable donations from MacMillan Cancer Support UK and Les Bourgs Hospice.

He admitted all four charges.

Skipper stood in Guernsey's island-wide general election in October 2020. He was unsuccessful but obtained 5,529 votes - just 948 votes fewer than the 38th and final candidate elected.

The following month, he was elected as a douzenier - a parish official - in St. Peter Port. He finished second out of 10 candidates in an election where there were five seats available.

Skipper is no longer a douzenier. 

His offending was carried out over a period of five years. This means that some were committed prior to him standing in Guernsey's general election.

He will be sentenced on 17 March where the prosecution will lay out its case against him in detail.

“All sentencing options remain open,” Judge Garry Perry said on Monday.