Latest news with #HopeFull
Russia Today
07-04-2025
- Russia Today
Convicted pedophile worked for UK charity helping Ukrainian kids
A convicted pedophile was recruited by a charity helping children in Ukraine during the conflict with Russia due to shortcomings in the organization's vetting process, The Telegraph has reported. Siobhan's Trust, since then renamed as HopeFull, hired the man in early 2023 to take part in its operation to distribute free pizzas to children and their families in the western part of the country 'with few, if any, background checks,' the paper said in an article on Saturday. A 52-year-old male who called himself Jack Morgan was paid £500 ($645) a month by the Scottish charity and made regular visits to orphanages, schools, and camps for those displaced by the fighting. Photographs posted by the charity on social media show him playing with young children, the report said. According to the paper, suspicions about Morgan arose among his colleagues last summer after he began boasting about joining the Ukrainian Foreign Legion and claiming that he was raising money for military supplies on its behalf. Read more Royal Navy worried about Russian superyachts – Times After searching online, they learned that Morgan was previously called Lee Callaghan, a resident of Newport, Wales who was jailed for two years for possessing category A child abuse images and was issued a ten-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) in 2017. An SHPO bars a person from leaving the UK without notifying the police. At the time, the National Crime Agency described him as 'a dangerous man, who wanted to abuse children,' the report read. The Telegraph said Morgan changed his name to Callaghan following his release from prison and traveled to Ukraine where he was hired by Siobhan's Trust. Sources within the charity told the paper that 'all hell broke loose' when Morgan's true identity was exposed. A spokesman for HopeFull confirmed that 'this individual gained his position under an assumed identity and was then dismissed by the charity in February 2024, at which point the charity was unaware of the allegations against him.' However, he insisted that 'as part of the charity's safety processes, no volunteer is left unsupervised with vulnerable children or adults, and we always operate in teams of at least four people.' HopeFull previously acknowledged that it does not have the capacity to carry out proper disclosure and barring service criminal record checks on its potential volunteers, instead relying on internet searches. READ MORE: Macron could lead EU talks with Russia – Telegraph Morgan is believed to still be in Ukraine where he had a romantic relationship with a Ukrainian mother of two, according to the report.
Telegraph
05-04-2025
- Telegraph
British charity working with children in Ukraine hired convicted paedophile
A convicted paedophile was employed by an acclaimed British charity working with vulnerable children in Ukraine after 'serious failings' in its vetting procedures, The Telegraph can reveal. Siobhan's Trust, which distributed pizzas to children and families suffering following Russia's invasion of the country, hired the man with few, if any, background checks. The 52-year-old, who called himself Jack Morgan, made regular visits to orphanages, schools and camps for displaced people after being employed to work on the charity 's operations in west Ukraine from early 2023. Photographs posted by the charity and its volunteers on social media showed him playing with young children. Suspicions about Morgan began to surface among the aid community in the city of Lviv after he began boasting about joining the Foreign Legion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and claiming he was raising money for military supplies on its behalf. Sources described how 'all hell broke loose' when his true identity was first exposed in a group chat for the Lviv volunteer community in August 2024. Volunteers who worked with Morgan told The Telegraph that he was paid £500 a month and given full use of vehicles owned by Siobhan's Trust, which later changed its name to HopeFull. These included a 'large van with a built-in pizza oven' and a 'refrigeration van', which Morgan drove to and from sites where vulnerable children were present. HopeFull said that it had been unaware of his criminal record until after he was dismissed by the charity in February 2024. It insisted that, as part of its safety processes, no volunteer was ever left unsupervised with vulnerable children. The Telegraph has now established that shortly before being hired by Siobhan's Trust, Morgan was convicted at Cardiff Crown Court for breaching child protection orders, imposed on him under his previous name Lee Callaghan, six years earlier. The revelations came after HopeFull announced in a surprise move that it had ended its flagship project in Ukraine on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion in February, having served more than 2.5 million pizzas at 1,800 locations across the country. David Fox-Pitt, the founder of the charity, said: 'This is a sad moment, but we have delivered as much hope and nourishment as we can, and our time has come to an end.' HopeFull remains active in Ukraine, working with veterans and partnering with local organisations including orphanages. 'A dangerous man who wanted to abuse children' Morgan's criminal record became known among several of Siobhan's Trust volunteers after they grew suspicious of his self-proclaimed status as a 'former British paratrooper' and military veteran. After conducting internet searches in August last year, they discovered that the individual known to them as Jack Morgan had previously been called Lee Callaghan and was from Newport, south Wales. They also learnt that he had received a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) for child sex offences in February 2017. Callaghan had been arrested on suspicion of making contact online with a known paedophile in an attempt to sexually abuse a child. He was convicted of being in possession of category A child abuse images, and was jailed for two years and issued with a 10-year SHPO, meaning that he could not travel abroad without notifying police. During sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court, Callaghan is reported to have displayed no remorse. Judge Daniel Williams told him: 'You minimise the clear sexual interest you have in young children.' Following the sentencing, Martin Ludlow, from the National Crime Agency, said: 'In his communications with others, it became clear Callaghan was a dangerous man who wanted to abuse children.' It is thought that following his release from prison, Callaghan changed his name by deed poll to Jack Morgan, before being charged in January 2023 for being in breach of the original SHPO. He then travelled to Ukraine, where he was hired by Siobhan's Trust. Former volunteers with the charity told how they reacted angrily to the discovery that he was a convicted paedophile. David, 60, a British national who has made four volunteering trips to Ukraine since the start of the invasion, told The Telegraph: 'I realised that quite possibly he wasn't who he said he was. 'When it came out, it was much, much worse than I thought. I was sick to the stomach.' An American former volunteer who joined Siobhan's Trust in February 2023 also raised questions over what she said were 'serious failings' in the Scottish-based charity's vetting process, describing it as 'extremely lax'. She claimed that no background check took place when she was recruited following a brief exchange conducted from abroad over WhatsApp. Charity 'relied on internet searches' In February, a hearing at the London Central Employment Tribunal, in a separate case brought against Siobhan's Trust, heard that the charity does not carry out disclosure and barring service (DBS) criminal record checks on potential volunteers, but relies on internet searches. Chris Mackintosh, a HopeFull trustee, told the hearing: 'We don't tend to do DBS checks. It would be too difficult to do for all volunteers and only a small group are British. We've had 19 nationalities [volunteering with us] and DBS is only relevant to British volunteers.' He added: 'If we were aware of anyone with a criminal conviction, clearly, we would not accept them as a volunteer.' The charity was set up in 2020 in memory of Siobhan Dundee, originally working with disadvantaged young people in Scotland. Two months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Siobhan's Trust moved its operations to the war zone, raising large sums from UK donors to buy vehicles and support projects on the ground. The charity has been praised by its patron Sir Iain Duncan Smith, receiving a special 'chairman's award' and £30,000 from the former Tory leader's non-profit foundation, the Centre for Social Justice, in November 2023, for going 'above and beyond in alleviating hardship'. Morgan is understood to still be in Ukraine after leaving his last known location – the apartment of a Ukrainian mother of two with whom he had begun a romantic relationship. HopeFull defended its handling of the case. A spokesman for the charity said: 'HopeFull is committed to the safety of its volunteers, employees, and the communities it serves. 'As part of the charity's safety processes, no volunteer is left unsupervised with vulnerable children or adults, and we always operate in teams of at least four people. 'This individual gained his position under an assumed identity and was then dismissed by the charity in February 2024, at which point the charity was unaware of the allegations against him.'
BBC News
24-02-2025
- General
- BBC News
Charity brings Ukraine pizza efforts to 'sad' halt
A British charity behind specially kitted-out vans cooking pizzas to feed people in war-torn Ukraine has announced it is bringing its operation to a close amid safety worries and fundraising said it had served more than 2.5 million free pizzas across 1,800 locations since Russia invaded the country three years David Fox-Pitt MBE said ending the service was a "sad moment".Among its volunteers was Jozef Mycielski, of Sedbergh, who told BBC Radio Cumbria it had been a privilege to bring "moments of hope" to people in Ukraine. The organisation's fleet of vehicles included a van named The Sedbergh Wolf, which was paid for through £60,000 in donations following a campaign by Sedbergh took its name from the animal on the private school's emblem. Fundraising 'fatigue' Mr Mycielski, HopeFull's spokesman, described its decision to halt the pizza-serving efforts as "really difficult"."We pulled out of the East [of Ukraine] about a month ago for safety reasons."The fleet of trucks went back to the Lviv area. They're battered after more than 600,000 kms in the last three years."We've raised over £3m in three years, but there's a lot of fatigue around the conflict and it's been harder and harder to bring in £10,000 a week we've needed to keep the operations going." Mr Mycielski was inspired to join the charity after meeting Mr Fox-Pitt in May added: "It's been an absolute privilege to spend time in Ukraine, weeks on end."I think we've made a real difference when a morale mission was needed more than ever. We've brought people moments of hope."The 2.5 million pizzas at 1,800 sites were not just pizza. They were 2.5 million smiles and real signs of solidarity between nations." 'Hope and nourishment' His time in the country had left him feeling "reflective", he said."Ukraine is still being battered. We've been privileged to be a small part in hopefully giving them lighter moments."Every trip was different. You wonder why it's happened - a massive miscalculation, in my view, by a self-proclaimed strongman and it's difficult to row back from there."We've witnessed such a waste of life. Three years of misery and grief on an epic scale. There are more than 70,000 amputees now, millions with PTSD, and billions or trillions in physical damage."But to hear stories from people who've been displaced and be able to give them a pizza, a coffee or a football or rugby ball donated by Cumbrian schools was a real privilege."The charity, formerly known as Siobhan's Trust, will continue its HopeFull Future rehabilitation project, which it says enables servicemen, medics and their families to rebuild their Fox-Pitt said: "This is a sad moment, but we have delivered as much hope and nourishment as we can, and our time has come to an end. "I want to thank the amazing staff and over 500 volunteers who have made this remarkable enterprise possible." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
