Tigers For Kids Charity
 

Look who’s in the news….again!!!!
http://www.rochdaleobserver.co.uk/news/s/1080301_sick_kids_plane_scheme_probed
I'm sure members will remember this also…….
http://www.pprune.org/spectators-balcony-spotters-corner/180232-sky-marshals-samra.html
Does anyone know if it's the same chap?? Bit of a co-incidence?!

I am on the side involved with an organization that does similar charity flights. I know that they budget 100 euros for each flight. This is for a flight duration of about 30-40 minutes, which is about the point where the novelty wears off for a typical child.

According to the article his charity has been operating since 1998, has 60.000 UKP running costs per year, and has flown about 500 children so far.

That's over a 1000 UKP per child. Something doesn't add up.

It was only a matter of time before Mr Matthews little scam was brought to light. And the way the charity is loosing friends at various airfields around the country, they fay find their biggest restriction isn't the lack of money, but the lack of airfields willing to accommodate them. I suspect we'll see a lot more come out in the wash over the coming weeks.

Indecently... http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...tech-logs.html

Unfortunately, a lot of the posts were removed or restricted be the mods, but perhaps the above link shows why the charity was reliant on using a firefly rather than the trade make Tiger Moth for a while!

The whole charity is a scam... Thats why they spend their time flitting between airfields. Because no sooner do they arrive, they're asked to leave... Wickenby, Full Sutton... I wonder how long before the people at Barton realise what they have let themselves in for?

The numbers just dont add up. But then as Winco has pointed out, some of the people behind this 'charity' have quite a history, and 'skymarshals' is only the tip of the iceberg!

I heard another whisper last night from someone at Barton that the aircraft has now been effectively 'impounded' by the CAA - anyone at Barton care to comment or tell us what has happened to it?

The personalities in this matter are well known to lots of people, and not always for the right reasons. Mr Matthews has an interseting past, not least of all his little venture as outlined above in the 'Sky Marshall' fisaco.

If you do enough digging, you'll see that the trustees of this 'charity' are (or at least were) no more than his mother, his brother's girlfriend and I understand his uncle also - a right little family affair!

I have also heard that he is being investigated for flying the Tiger Moth, with children passengers whilst it is an 'unairworthy' condition. I very much hope the CAA withdraw his licence, things of this nature must not be allowed to continue under any circumstances.

And £60,000 a year! I wonder where it all goes?

Peter, thanks for the link - I was 99% certain that this was the same chap, obviously you think the same!

Well done to the Rochdale press for publicising things and shame on the Lib Dem MP for promoting it and not having the courage to remove the item from his web site:

Tigers for Kids (Winning for Rochdale with Nick Clegg's record breaking Lib Dems)

The Winco

My condolences
 

Adrian Matthews was arrested with me on 6th Sept 1999 on suspicion of fraud, an allegation that has affected my life with deep impact.

It is with deep regret that I ever encountered Mr Matthews and his charming family and my condolences to anyone else who has come into contact with him and had their lives too affected by him.

I am astonished to this day that Detective Constable Steve Skerrett failed to investigate Mr Matthews any further than he did, instead he chose to persecute myself and my family for over three years via the press and allowed Mr Matthews to continue and conduct his life in a manner to which he had become accustomed.

I have now broken my silence of honour as a mother of two at my utter disgust that he has been financing his aviation pleasure at the expense of sick and dying children.

My abject apologies for my silence on the matter over these years but I do not now consider this grassing, it is my duty to point out what he is. A ****.

Tigers for Kids?
 

Interested in this one......do you have any links for the 6th of Sept 1999 saga?

regards

Very brave of you Fiona to comment on this story. What did Mr Mathews do?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/...08e0b7.jpg?v=0
Adrian Mathews on the right of picture

Revealed: caravan hideout of fugitive dubbed 'the cat' | UK news | The Observer
Fiona Mont story GPS 01 Gone Pear Shaped.

I hope he has a commercial licence:ok:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/...14ab0f.jpg?v=0

Feel good giving
Carmel Thomason
23/11/2007

IF you are looking for a gift to remember, a new experience can be the perfect choice.

And you'll find it hard to beat a flight in an open-cockpit flying classic vintage de Havilland Tiger Moth.

Arguably the most famous bi-plane trainer of its era, it's still in much demand.

Pilot Adrian Matthews, who owns one of the original 1944 aircraft, regularly takes groups of youngsters from The Christie hospital on adventure flights via the charity Tigers For Kids.

To fund this Adrian raises money by renting his plane to film companies – it was used as the basis for the flying phoenix in Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix – as well as offering private rides.

Movie stars Harrison Ford and John Travolta are among those who have taken up the offer.

So, if you want to give your loved one the film star treatment this year, you can arrange a Tiger Moth adventure at Lincoln airfield for a reserve of £350 per half hour flight.

Adrian says: “This is no fairground ride, it's the real thing and it's dual controlled so once you get up there you can have a go flying it yourself.

"You wouldn't believe the way it makes the kids buzz, it's fantastic. Currently we take youngsters from Christie Hospital, St James in Leeds, Clare's House Hospice in Birkenhead, Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham Children's Hospitals and Great Ormond Street. We really do make a difference to these kids lives, it's like injecting them with life and motivation.”

The saddest part of all is that the idea of the charity is indeed a good one. But using sick kids as a cover for fraud is nothing but disgusting. I despise this man. It was only a mater of time before this came out... It couldn't have come soon enough.

Wow,

What a big can of ugly worms this is turning into!

I have managed to get hold of one of Matthews' leaflets telling you everything about this charity. In it he claims to have had bone cancer when he was 26 and spent 'many months in hospital' and whilst there he 'came up with the idea of Tigers for Kids' Yeh right, I'm sure you did.

Interesting to note that, apart from the £60k he was trying to raise for annual running costs for his Tiger, he was also trying to raise £135,000 whilst he was at Wickenby because............'we require a specialised reception area with disabled toilets'

£135,00 for a reception area and some toilets?? What did they have, gold plated toilet seats and taps?

Might need some other "bits of paper" too :ok:

The man sounds like a Walt of the first order, as well as some other names we won't use here. Perhaps with some input from Ppruners he can be outed for good.

I presume if he is charging people for rides in the Tiger Moth he will need a CPL, and AoC, a public transport C of A etc. I have a sneaking suspiscion that his paperwork won't bear close examination. Also, looks like he is wearing RAF wings on his flying suit in that picture. I do hope he is properly entitled but I suspect not!

No those are wannabee wings available from a variety of sources custom embroidered to your requirements. I believe the LAA and the BMAA offer such a service amongst a variety of others.

Ah another PPrune witch hunt........ :ugh:

For reference = Don't know the bloke, never met him, no idea of the history etc.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

witch hunt
 

Witch hunt. If you want to know about witch hunts you should look my case up on wikipedia, that was a fine three year witch hunt and right at the front of the line was Adrian Matthews stirring the **** as best he could.

After having had a baby on the run, given birth under very difficult circumstances, I was arrested in Spain on a fake extradition warrant by a bent cop the daily mail and Mr Matthews was there, I saw him, fake beard or no I saw him standing in the background giggling and pointing with delight at my distress and the distress of my husband and baby daughter. Seems he likes to take the piss out of children.

If anyone needs a lecture on casting the first stone it's him. I am not perfect as I have declared again and again all over the internet. And I'm not casting the first stone, Adrian did that to me years ago and I took my public stoning, now it's his turn.

Well Tigers for Kids isn't registered as a charity, has no number and even the website says "pending".

You have to have this number and be registered BEFORE you can start. I think I'll be making a few calls about this toerag next week.

Scam, scammity, scam , scam, scam.

Fiona, I am sorry for your situation. You do indeed seem to have had a hard time. My comment however was not aimed at you. It was aimed at those who think starting a witch hunt on a stranger via an anonymous internet forum is acceptable.

You have been on the receiving end of a witch hunt I know, but I have to ask myself if participating in one to extract revenge may just lower yourself to his level and strip you off the dignity you have clearly displayed to this point.

Just my thoughts having seen the way things tend to work on here.

Not as good as the blokes over at the Flyer Forums, I see they are quite good at this kind of thing. :)

Fiona,

I heard your piece on Radio 4 the other day and at the time, I formed two opinions:

1. You were guilty as charged and managed to get away with a con by running away and protesting from a distance.

or...

2. This was a horrifying example of a "stalking" police officer who, for whatever reason, had a vendetta against you.

Quite honestly, I don't know what to think. However, your comments here lead me to believe you know a lot more about this man than we do.

PPrune gets it wrong from time to time but when it comes to righting wrongs or outing charlatans, it's quite successful.

Perhaps your involvement, if not breaching any libel laws, could tick both boxes?

Bose, this isn't a stranger, but someone with a well known and documented past. Witch hunt. If this is a scam. Which I believe it is, then I'm after him.

Anyone who uses sick kids or cancer to feather their own nest deserves everything they are going to get.

Indeed SAS.

I just wondered who appointed anonymous posters on an internet forum judge jury an executioner.

I am sure that this person has wronged many people in the past and seems to be wronging people in the present but I am not inclined to participate in the vigilante action.

Those who are please feel free to carry on but as I said those without sin cast the first stone. Experience has shown that these things all to easily slide out of control.

I'm in the process of finding out if this is a scam. It's not hard to do. If it is true.................Then I'll personally chase him with a burning torch and pitchfork.

I agree with bose-x and thought carefully before posting.

However, there does seem to be quite a bit of a history with this person and the note from Fiona, if indeed it is she, is very interesting given her story which I heard by chance on Radio 4 a week or so ago.

The case I am thinking of is the so called "Guvnor" episode where PPrune came to the fore with flying colours.

Wise words, and you are right. The fact is that I haven't spoken to Adrian in nearly ten years so I have no idea what the exact allegations are in this instance or even if there is any substance.

But it's really, really hard when someone has caused so much hurt and pain to restrain oneself from hitting out. I think I've done well for nearly ten years to keep my word to a man who went out of his way to make my life a misery and punnish me just for not wanting to be with him and choosing someone else.

I took a lot back in 99, believe me or not, I've taken a lot for the last nine years to protect other people, but as I said, I'm not perfect so who am I to judge, I'll leave that job to the Lord God. So whatever **** hits the fan will be devine judgement and not mine. I know what I've been guilty of in my life and so does God, he sees everything, he knows what we have all done and he will judge.

Praise the Lord.

Once in awhile my faith in human nature is restored. May the sun shine on you always Fiona.

In the interest of balance, the last paragraph of the newspaper report is interesting:

On the basis of "innocent until proven guilty", it is not unreasonable for Mr. Rowen to leave the article on his website unless and until any wrongdoing is substantiated, as he says:

Ends don't justify means, but this is maybe not as black and white as some are perhaps viewing it.

FBW

For scams to work there has to be some basis in reality. Look at Archer and the missing Kurdish millions.

They may well be providing flights, but if the money raised is only partly going to the front end, then it is very, very dodgy.

There are very strict rules about charities and their funding. So far from my limited sleuthing, this doesn't seem to fulfil many if any of them.

Fly-by-Wire

I e-mailed Paul Rowen several weeks ago about this and pointed out to him that he may wish to remove the page on his website while Mr Matthews was being investigated by the Charities Commission. He declined to do so, stating that until he had some 'concrete proof' the article would stay.

I have asked him repeatedly since then to remove the article but he has declined. Even now, with the press disclosure, he still will not remove it, and that causes me concern.

Here we have an individual, with a criminal past running a so-called charity. That charity gets struck off, twice! for not submitting accounts, and yet he claims it is still registered, on his website and on his literature.

He even convinces an MP that he is bona fide, and as a result, that MP actively encourages the public to give the guy money! Now, even on your own basis of "innocent until proven guilty", surely you would expect the local MP to say 'well, lets just hold fire for a bit on the donations people, just until this is all cleared up'. Instead, he refuses to acknowledge the facts and continues to support him; shamefull. I trust that the good people of Rochdale will remember that when the next election comes around.

Fiona, having read your story and knowing this individual, you have my deepest sympathy and utmost admiration. Well done!

bose-x
You don't need to be a rocket scientist to take a look into Matthews' past; This has got nothing whatsoever to do with a witch hunt - we know who the guilty person is! We don't need to go hunting for him!! Thus, your comment about 'being without sin and casting the first stone' is both irrelevant and incorrect Sir.

The Winco

ps anyone at Barton care to comment yet??

Facts
 

As I said before I don't know the in's and out's of these allegations but I will tell you some of what I know:

Adrian Matthews was convicted of £5,000,000 fraud in 1994 on 8 indictments

Sentenced at Liverpool Crown court even though the offence was committed in Greater Manchester.

Sentenced to 3 years in prison - released from Sudbury

Court case number T941572

His co-accused (who I do not know personally) were sentenced to higher sentences.

It is rare for cases to be transfered from the area of the crime, this usually happens when we in the trade call it 'QE'.

I have no further details on this conviction and cannot comment on the details any more than I can on the details of present allegations.

However I would like to add that there is probably more to this story than meets the eye.

At the time of mine and Adrian's arrest in 1999 the officer in charge of the case, Steve Skerrett, seemed more interested in me and what I was wearing than in Adrian and his £5 million pound conviction, which always astonished me, perhaps QE's get some preferential treatment, I really don't know.

I can only guess and draw my own conclusions. Further than that I cannot say.

A check of the tech logs is suggested. I was told that the aircraft has not been serviceable long enough to have done as many as 10% of the 500 flights claimed.

Winco,

I've done a little digging, and come up with this old contact address for Tigers for Kids from a google cache*:

Now that address is the same as the one in the SAMRA skymarshals thread, where the following information from Companies House was provided:

It would rather explain why

Because the director was disqualified.

To be accurate, the Charities Commission only removed it once, in July of this year. And the Tigers for Kids website does say that the Registered Charity number is "pending" (whatever that means), while Mr Matthews said he:

On the basis of "innocent until proven guilty", Mr Rowen is entitled to continue to publicise the positive aspects of Tigers for Kids that he has seen - the fact that an investigation is underway does not in itself mean that there are charges to answer, nor does the fact that the existence of that investigation has been reported in a newspaper make it somehow any more than an investigation.

However, given the increasing amount of information that has come to light about Tigers for Kids and those running it - even here on PPRuNe - Mr Rowen might indeed consider it prudent to distance himself from Tigers for Kids sooner rather than later, for the good of his electorate - as you say:

FBW

* This is Google's cache of http://www.rentadateforcharity.com/tigersforkids.htm. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 18 Oct 2008 11:31:05 GMT.

Fly-by-Wife

No, sorry, but you are wrong.
It was struck off twice, and on both occasions for NOT submitting accounts.

Winco,

It looks as if you are simply mixing up the company with the charity (Companies House vs. Charities Commission Register. I'm referring to the Charities Commission website, where it states about the charity:

Now the company was dissolved in 2004 - from the Companies House website:

It is clear that the Company was dissolved ONCE in 2004, and as a result the Charitable Status was removed ONCE, in 2008.

FBW

Still as hooky as hooky thing though!

He needs to be stopped!
 

Why can somebody with a criminal past run a charity?
I believe he has gotten away with his appalling behaviour for far too long.

Did he ever have cancer like he claimed?
He told me he was in the RAF. Was he?

I know he went to prison on 4th November 1991 for burning down his Mothers chip shop in Rochdale. He was sentenced at Bolton Crown Court. (Crime ref. T199129530). Brian Matthews, his brother and Lana Dawn Matthews, his sister were also in court for 'doing acts tending and intending to pervert the course of public justice. It seems they are a close family in crime and all!

The lowest form of crime to me though is using terminally ill children and their families to satisfy his own needs and making money out of them!!

Surely the childrens hospitals need to be warned! The police need to be brought in and he needs to be arrested! Again!

From a couple of messages and e-mails I've received this evening. It seems things are in hand. Good work!

Well it hit the Manchester press last night:

Riddle of charity cash plea - News - Manchester Evening News

and guess who was there telling everyone it was all a big mistake? Yes, good old Brian Matthews..........the brother! Nothing from Adrian of course, he's gone deep and silent (like he usually does I'm told)

PPruners will remember good old Brian from the Sky Marshall fiasco (my first post on this subject) I do find it bizarre that an opthalmic (sp?) specialist would get involved in such dodgy dealings. I know blood is thicker than water, but you just wouldn't expect a professional person to put his career at risk with such matters.

Sleepy Hole, welcome to this forum. I'm sure your comments about getting in touch with the hospitals will be taken up by someone, maybe I'll do it on monday. Maybe, if the rumours about the CAA are correct, they will put out a statement to all of the childrens hospitals involved in this that they should not be allowing their patients to fly with him.

I see that we can now add arson to the list of activities for Matthews. I wonder what excuse brother Brian will come up for that? Maybe he torched the wrong chip shop?? or maybe he just accidently dropped the match into the can of petrol he happened to be carrying at the time by accident.

There is a lot more of this guys history to come out yet I fear!

The Winco

Well done guys, you have hounded the guy down - but now who is going to take the kids flying, they are the ones who have lost out.

Hopefully a legitimate charity. Apart from the obvious days when press and MP's have been there, how many flights do you think this chap has actually flown?

Who's lost out?
 

I think anybody who has had the unfortunate experience of meeting Adrian Matthews has lost out!!
In my opinion, he hasn't got one decent bone in his body. He is a cruel man. Manipulative and feelingless.
The hospitals and hospices provide these gorgeous courageous children with fantastic day trips out all over the country, and may it continue to stay that way. May they never cross paths with the fraudulent low life criminal that Adrian Matthews is!
Now, don't get me wrong, he might be an amazing pilot but these are the facts:
1. His 'so called' registered charity isn't registered!
2. He went to prison for arson!
3. He went to prison for fraud!
4. He let Fiona Mont take all the blame for a crime he was heavily involved
in!
5. He is currently under investigation for a fraudulent act he committed in
2007.

WOULD YOU WANT YOUR CHILD ANYWHERE NEAR HIM?

I know I wouldn't! I am just sorry I have to express my anger and frustration on this forum over a man that should have been stopped many years ago.