A school manager who stole more than £80,000 from a primary school has been jailed for three years.
Susan Harmon, 55, of Chester Avenue, Chorley, Lancs., stole £82,769.08 from Great Harwood Primary School, in Blackburn, Lancs between 2016 and 2023.
The struggling school was unable to afford maintenance, with the school becoming ‘dilapidated’ and staff hours slashed as Harmon holidayed in New York, Las Vegas, and Portugal.
A lack of funds to fix the school’s CCTV systems and gates led to a child leaving unsupervised, and the school couldn’t afford playground equipment and reading material.
The fraud was uncovered after a new headteacher started at the school in September following the previous head’s retirement.
The disgraced manager was sentenced to three years imprisonment at Burnley Crown Court on Wednesday, December 11 after admitting charges of fraud by abuse of position and concealing, disguising, converting, transferring, or removing criminal property.
Judge Daniel Prowse, sentencing, said: “Your actions in depriving the school had a severe impact and has had far-reaching consequences.
“There was an impact on school safety.
“The fabric of the building was unable to be kept, and the building became dilapidated because essential maintenance was unable to take place.
“Faced with a severe shortage of funds, the headteacher faced the agonising decision of having to reduce staff hours.
“One staff member took the decision to resign to protect the jobs and hours of their colleagues, an unnecessary situation had you not been defrauding the school.
“Two members of staff had to get second jobs in order to make ends meet.
“Every aspect of that impact was felt most acutely by the children, their school was collapsing around them.”
New head John McKenna found out about the fraud after questioning missing insurance claim payments.
He discovered that £30,000 in insurance claims for staff absences had been paid into the school’s ‘unofficial’ bank account rather than its ‘official’ one.
Harmon still had control of the unofficial account, which was used for school events and breakfast clubs, despite having left her role as the school’s bursar and claiming the account had been closed.
Lancashire County Council was then asked to investigate, finding Harmon had withdrawn more than £80,000 of school money into her personal accounts.
The trusted money manager had told parents and institutions to pay into the unofficial account rather than the school’s official one.
Among other payments, five universities had put more than £12,000 into the account for student teacher placements.
In a victim statement read out in court, headteacher Mr McKenna said Harmon’s actions had “significant and far-reaching implications on the school and its financial reputation”.
He said the fraud had “deprived children of a range of opportunities” and there were “years of making do with what’s available or raising money from parents”.
Defence lawyer Rachel Woods said that the money had been used to help pay the rent of a family member so they would not lose their house.
Woods said holidays to destinations including Las Vegas, New York, and Portugal, and renovations to Harmon’s kitchen were paid for out of personal loans rather than with the stolen funds.
In a statement, John McKenna, headteacher at Great Harwood Primary School, said:
“Everyone at Great Harwood Primary School was horrified to learn of the fraudulent activity committed by a former member of staff.
“Since she resigned from her position, robust systems have been implemented and adhered to, including a cashless system and transparent accounting.
“With support from the local authority, we have stabilised the budget and have been able to invest in new provision around school, with more on the horizon.”
He added: “We now need time to heal and support each other to move on from this troubling chapter so we can focus on realising the huge potential in every child that comes to our school.”
A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: “As a result of our professional investigation, the offender in this case was identified and successfully prosecuted.
“The investigation team has also successfully recovered the loss in full, ensuring school funding for children’s education is protected.
“This case involved a serious breach of trust by a former member of staff, who as the bursar, was in a position of financial control within the school.
“The sentence reflects this seriousness of crime and this case should serve as a warning to anyone who thinks they can commit these types of crimes and get away with it.”
