A FORMER Barnsley vicar has denied stealing nearly £25,000 from grieving families.
Simon Reynolds, 50, is set to appear at Sheffield Crown Court on December 17 after prosecutors in Barnsley said the case was "unsuitable" for a magistrates' court.
He is alleged to have taken money set aside by hundreds of families to pay for loved ones' funerals at All Saints' Church in Darton.
The cash was allegedly stolen over a six-year period between March 2007 and March 2013.
Reynolds, of Upper Farnham Lane, Surrey, was granted unconditional bail.
