Mum used charity fund to pay off her son’s drugs debt
ATEACHING assistant used charity funds raised at her school to pay off her son’s drug debt, a hearing has been told.
Caroline Hannigan, 56, raised £287 for the British Heart Foundation at Glanhowy Primary School in Tredegar, by organising a cross-country race.
But an Education Workforce Council hearing in Cardiff yesterday heard that while she intended to bank the cash, when she got home she found her son being threatened by drug dealers. Mrs Hannigan used the charity money to pay off the cash debt he owed them.
Education investigator Sarah Maunder said: “She panicked when they threatened him with violence. She admitted using the money for her son, who was in trouble. She admitted using it to pay off her son’s drug debts. The dealers were threatening her son.”
Mrs Hannigan said she did it after the dealers told her they could make her “disappear”.
She told the disciplinary panel she was terrified when two men came to her home demanding money.
So she handed them £300 in cash – including the £287 raised by pupils at her school for the British Heart Foundation.
Mrs Hannigan said: “I heard a banging on the back and front doors. I went to the back door and there was a man standing there who wanted to see my son because he owed him some money – money he owed them for drugs.
“I shut the door on them but they banged again – they just wanted to get at my son, who was in the house with me, and we were both very frightened.
“They were very threatening, saying that we could ‘disappear’ or the house could burn down.”
She said they demanded £1,000 for
her 31-year-old son’s drug debts, but were satisfied with a down payment of £300, including the £287 she collected for the British Heart Foundation.
The hearing was told that Mrs Hannigan was a “frequent collector” for the charity because her daughter had been treated for a serious heart problem.
And she said that she managed to find the money to eventually repay the drug gang.
She told the panel: “I’m sorry this has happened. I’m very remorseful. I knew my son was in with a bad lot.”
Mrs Hannigan lost her job at the primary school and is now a supply teaching assistant at another school, but faces being struck off the teaching register.
When she was confronted about the missing charity money, Mrs Hannigan claimed at first that she had paid it through a post office, but the following day admitted to using it to pay drug dealers.
But the hearing was told Mrs Hannigan should not have taken the money home.
Headteacher Rebecca Fowler told the panel that most of the 300 pupils paid £1 each to take part in the charity day – raising the sum of £287.
“There was no reason for Mrs Hannigan to take the money out of the school,” she said.
“She said she had a receipt for the post office but then admitted that she gave the money to her son, who was in trouble with a drug dealer who knocked on the door that night, and that she was trying to protect her son.”
Ms Maunder said Mrs Hannigan was “extremely upset and incredibly remorseful” when interviewed.
The hearing was told that Mrs Hannigan hoped to repay the money before it was discovered it was missing by organising another charity event at the primary school.
A panel heard that Mrs Hannigan, who had worked in the school for 23 years, was investigated over the theft in February 2015.
She was interviewed by police and taken to court, where she was handed a conditional discharge.
Presenting Officer Cadi Dewi said: “She admitted the money was utilised by her to pay a drug dealer who had gone to her house seeking money owed by her son.”
Mrs Hannigan admits taking the money and using it to pay the dealers and has admitted unacceptable professional conduct.
The Education Workforce Council hearing in Cardiff, scheduled to last two days, continues.