Charity Recruits Convicted Paedophile to Work with Children in Ukraine
A British charity, now rebranded as HopeFull, has recruited a convicted paedophile to work with children in Ukraine, according to a report by The Telegraph. The individual, identified as Jack Morgan, was hired in early 2023 to participate in a project distributing free pizzas to children and their families in western Ukraine, without undergoing any background checks.
Morgan, who was 52 at the time, was paid £500 per month and regularly visited orphanages, schools and children who had fled the conflict, as shown in photos posted by the charity on social media.
The Telegraph reported that the suspicion against Morgan arose among his colleagues in the summer after he boasted about joining the Ukrainian Foreign Legion and claimed to be collecting funds for military supplies in its name.
An online search later revealed that Morgan, whose real name is Lee Callaghan, was a convicted paedophile who had served a two-year prison sentence for possessing child pornography and was subject to a 10-year order of sexual harm prevention, which prohibited him from leaving the UK without informing the police.
The National Crime Agency described him as a “dangerous man who wanted to abuse children” in 2017.
After his release from prison, Morgan changed his name to Callaghan and moved to Ukraine, where he was recruited by Siobhan’s Trust, now known as HopeFull.
Sources within the charity told The Telegraph that “hell broke loose” when Morgan’s true identity was discovered.
A spokesperson for HopeFull confirmed that the individual had obtained his position under a false identity and was subsequently fired in February 2024, at a time when the charity was unaware of the allegations against him.
The spokesperson emphasized that the charity’s security processes ensure that no volunteer is left unsupervised with vulnerable children or adults and that they always work in teams of at least four people.
HopeFull has acknowledged that it does not have the capacity to conduct thorough background checks on its potential volunteers and instead relies on online research.