A CHURCHMAN charged with fraud turned up unexpectedly at a grieving Port widow's home on Christmas Eve and asked for an envelope containing cash, a trial has heard.

Douglas Cranston conducted her husband's packed funeral the previous day at which he is said to have stolen hundreds of pounds in collection money donated by mourners.

Greenock Sheriff Court was told how the suspended Kilmacolm preacher went to the woman's door looking for a £40 'gratuity' after stepping in at short notice to preside over the service.

The widow, 53 — whose husband died suddenly — said: "He said to me, 'I'm here to collect the money envelope you didn't give me yesterday'.

"He left me in a state of disbelief and anger."

The woman told how she'd left the funeral early as Cranston, 58, invited mourners to contribute to the British Heart Foundation and a benevolent cause of his own.

She said: "I had an envelope made up for Mr Cranston in my bag on the day of the service with £40 in it — it was just a gratuity for conducting the service.

"I couldn't believe that a minister would come to my house on Christmas Eve, with young kids there, to ask for an envelope not given to him the day before."

Cranston also irritated the deceased man's brother by cutting the service at Greenock Crematorium short because he thought the congregation's singing was poor, the court heard.

The brother, 56, said: "We only sang one hymn instead of two.

"He informed me that we didn't do a very good job of the first hymn so he just cancelled the second one.

"I was annoyed by his answer and him making a unilateral decision like that at my brother's funeral."

The widow told how she found Cranston's approach towards the funeral arrangements in December 2013 odd because he immediately wanted the family to agree to a collection.

She said: "It struck me as strange that he didn't say that he was sorry for our loss.

"He started by saying that he didn't charge anything but that he did have a benevolent fund to raise money for the poor.

"I said that if we were going to have a collection, I'd like it to be for the British Heart Foundation as well and we'd go 50-50."

The woman said that when Cranston came to her house on Christmas Eve he told her that the collection had realised either £378 or £387.

Asked by prosecutor David Glancy if she ever saw any of that money, she replied: "No."

She said she'd expected to receive an acknowledgement letter from the British Heart Foundation but never got one.

The woman said that it was the last time she saw Cranston, whom she also said did not attend a function after the funeral service.

Her brother-in-law recollected that Cranston mentioned taking a collection for 'the poor of Kilmacolm'.

He said: "I'm not trying to be light-hearted here but there's not a lot of poor people in Kilmacolm."

The witness told the court that he believes Cranston was clutching a bag containing the proceeds of the collection after the funeral, which he said was 'standing room only'.

He said: "I believe he had the collection bag in his hand — I'm pretty sure he had it in his hand."

Cranston no longer resides at the parish manse on Kilmacolm's Churchill Road and now lives in a flat in Renfrew, according to court papers.

He is facing multiple charges alleging that he stole cash from collections taken at four funerals, embezzled money from his own flock and hoodwinked couples into giving him personal cheques for weddings.

The alleged offences are said to have been committed between February 1, 2013 and June 3, 2015.

Cranston has pleaded not guilty to all of the allegations against him.

The trial, before Sheriff Andrew McIntyre, is due to resume on April 25.