The director of a horse therapy company falsely held it out as a not-for-profit charity in order to personally enrich herself, a jury has been told.

Wendy Elizabeth Megson, also known as Wendy Elizabeth, ‘stole’ the charity registration numbers of other genuine charities to give Manx Equitherapy Limited (MEL) an ‘air of authenticity’, the court heard.

In fact it was not – nor had it ever been – a charity, said prosecutor James Robinson as he opened the case at the Court of General Gaol Delivery on Monday.

He said MEL was a ‘mask or front for her own greed’ to obtain as much financial benefit as possible. Analysis of its bank account showed payments for rent, meals out, an electrical store and nights in hotels.

Mr Robinson told the seven-strong jury: ‘Charities hold a special place in the hearts of many. People set them up for the purpose of helping others, not themselves.

‘We say this case is about the greed of one individual and the lengths they have gone to enrich themselves by dishonest and unlawful means.

‘She has lied, lied and lied again. She is simply a fraudster.’

The accused, 61, of Ballaradcliffe, Andreas, who is representing herself in court, denies nine counts of benefit fraud, two charges of a charity offence, one count of fraud and one of deception.

Manx Equitherapy Ltd was incorporated in 2012, with the defendant as a director, with the stated aim to use horses to provide therapy.

Mr Robinson said the accused was overpaid a total of £31,366 in benefits over a period of four years or so by claiming she was too ill to work and failing to declare she was earning an income from MEL.

MEL’s bank account had credits made to it totalling £114,000 and was used as the accused’s ‘personal piggy bank’, the jury was told.

Despite never having been registered as a charity it was repeatedly held out expressly or by implication to be one, the court heard. This enabled it to avoid financial oversight, Mr Robinson said.

He said it used the charity number from a different charity, Abandoned Children of Romania, which was set up in 2006 and later changed its name to Acorn. The accused became its chairman and secretary in 2012.

MEL used the registered number of a second charity, IoM Sailing and Boating Trust, in its application to the Tesco Bags of Help scheme.

MEL used its claimed charity status to obtain relief on fees totalling £2,660 which would otherwise have been due when it filed its accounts, said Mr Robinson.

He said when the accused was arrested on suspicion of fraud in May last year and subsequently charged with the offences for which she is now standing trial, she told police: ‘I do not consent, I do not understand.’

First witness to take the stand was Michelle Norman, who until retirement had been a senior lawyer in the Attorney General’s chambers dealing with charity registrations.

She said MEL had first come to her attention over its activities in the summer of 2020 when checks revealed that it was not and had never been a registered charity.

Despite this there were references on its website and Facebook page to it being a charity or charitable organisation seeking donations. There were similar claims on the JustGiving and easyfundraising platforms.

Ms Norman said MEL’s memorandum of association referred to it being a registered subscriber of Acorn.

Acorn’s constitution, however, did not allow it to have subsidiaries, the witness said.#

She said just after MEL had been incorporated in 2012, the position of Acorn being added as a subscriber had been queried. The accused had at that point replied that they were looking at MEL becoming a charitable company.

The trial, which is scheduled to run for nine days, continues.