SPARED JAIL
Teacher avoids prison for fraud at school
A PE teacher and former professional footballer who used school funds to buy football equipment for his private coaching business has been spared jail.
Steve Restarick, 44, was in May convicted of fraud by abuse of position by taking £6,258 from Maidstone Grammar School (MGS) while acting as head of its PE department during a threeyear period to 2014. He appeared before Judge Mark Bishop at Inner London Crown Court for sentencing on Friday.
During his two- week trial, the father-of-three from Sutton Road, Maidstone, was acquitted of three counts of witness intimidation after three people were sent an envelope containing a psalm, a picture of Traitors’ Gate at the Tower of London and a white feather – a symbol of cowardice. A further charge of stealing photocopying paper was withdrawn. Prosecuting, James Vine claimed the fraud had been going on from 2009 to 2014 and the £6,258 represented a significant proportion of the school’s budget. He said: “Students didn’t have the standard of equipment that should have been provided by the PE department as this money went on Restarick’s business.”
A Kent Messenger report featuring Restarick’s thoughts on being convicted was read out before the court suggesting he showed “lack of remorse”.
Defending, Greg Krieger said Restarick, now head of PE at St Matthew Academy in Blackheath, south-east London, was previously of good character.
Mr Krieger said: “Many people around Mr Restarick have shown considerable faith in him. It is a strange case borne out of a real personality clash with the school bursar. It was immaturity rather than desire to make a profit for himself.”
The judge told an emotional Restarick: “You have betrayed the trust of not only the bursar but your colleagues in the PE department. In any school where a fraud like this happens the disruption goes a long way beyond questions of money.”
Restarick was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for 18 months. He must also repay £6,258, pay costs of £1,000 and a victim surcharge of £15 and complete 200 hours of unpaid work.
Apart from one league match for Colchester United, Stephen Restarick has a career in nonleague English football, playing for clubs including Chatham Town, Maidstone United and Folkestone Invicta between 2002 and 2003. He returned to Maidstone as a coach in 2006.