British fraud gang posed as charity collectors and dressed as Children in Need mascot Pudsey Bear to collect donations, and two members must now pay over £100,000 to charities

Charity collection fraud has cost a national gang more than £100,000, after two of its members were ordered to repay money gathered by posing as fundraisers, including one dressed as Children in Need mascot Pudsey Bear. Seven people were convicted in 2023 after it was found they had posed as collectors for well-known charities, yet none or very little of the cash they gathered ever reached those causes. Instead, the money funded the gang’s criminal lifestyles. The confiscated sums will now go to four of the organisations the gang targeted, so those charities can receive money taken in their names.Which charities the gang pretended to collect for, and who was behind the Pudsey Bear costumeThe Crown Prosecution Service said David Levi, aged 49, and Stephen Chesterman, aged 64, were part of an organised gang that scammed the public by pretending to collect donations. The gang posed as collectors for Great Ormond Street Hospital, Children in Need, Mind, The Children’s Society and Comic Relief. Levi went as far as dressing as Pudsey Bear, a mascot well recognised by the public, so that members of the public would hand over money.How much each man must pay and which charities will receive the confiscated money in compensationThe two men were handed confiscation orders totalling £107,056. All of it will be paid to Children in Need, Mind, The Children’s Society and Great Ormond Street Hospital.Levi, of Lytham St Annes in Lancashire, received an order of £4,438, which will be paid to Children in Need, The Children’s Society and Mind as compensation. Chesterman, of Benfleet in Essex, received an order of £102,618 on 3 March 2025 at Preston Crown Court. That sum will be paid to Great Ormond Street Hospital.What happens if the money is not paid: extra prison terms and interest charged on the full debtLevi has 56 days to pay back the money, or he could face an additional default sentence of three months in prison on top of his original sentence. Chesterman has three months to pay, or he could face a default sentence of 18 months in prison.The full debt stays in force until it is paid. Interest is charged against it at the civil judgment debt rate, which stood at 8 per cent at the time of the announcement.Why prosecutors say the case matters and how much criminal money has been recovered in five yearsAdrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor of the Proceeds of Crime Division, said in the announcement that the men preyed on the goodwill of members of the public who believed their money would help people. He said he was pleased the defendants had not benefited from their ill-gotten gains.Foster added that £478 million has been recovered in the past five years from confiscation orders obtained by the Crown Prosecution Service, so thousands of convicted criminals cannot profit from their offending. Of that total, £95 million has been returned to victims of crime as compensation.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.