Two board members arrested

Police are probing a large-scale fraud at the RSPCA.

Two men have been arrested at the charity’s south east London branch after hundreds of thousands of pounds were found to be missing.

It is thought the sum could be as much as £450,000.

Some RSPCA branches are run as independent charities which is the case for the south east London office.

The suspected fraud was discovered during an audit of the south-east London branch in June last year when it was found almost £16,000 had been spent on bills at Premier Inn hotels.

It follows a series of fraud and governance issues at the organisation. In January Peter Ralphs, former chairman of the Shropshire branch of the organisation, was jailed for three years for stealing £184,000.

And last year the Charity Commission issued an official warning to the RSPCA over a payout to its former chief executive, saying trustees had failed to ensure the decision was properly made, and that their failings amounted to mismanagement.

A RSPCA spokesperson said: “After concerns were raised about the running of the London South East branch, which is a separately registered charity from the national RSPCA, a financial review was launched. The issue has been referred to the police and we are not in a position to comment further but we would like to reassure our supporters that the branch continues to operate as usual.”

A spokesman for the commission, responding to the latest fraud allegations, said: “A serious incident was reported to the commission in line with our guidance on reporting serious incidents and we opened a regulatory compliance case to assess the charity’s response to this serious incident.

“We expect the trustees to submit the findings of their internal investigation once complete, which we will review, as well as any necessary policies and procedures, including around financial controls, to ensure the charity has acted appropriately.”