Jail for ‘greedy’ school bursar who stole £100k
She spent tens of thousands on holidays and electronic goods
ABURSAR who stole £100,000 from her primary school’s accounts while splurging cash on holidays and televisions is behind bars.
Susan Ashworth, 58, was the ‘trusted face’ of Baxenden St John’s CE Primary School and had worked there for more than 20 years.
Forging the headteacher’s sig- nature on cheques, she diverted school money to her own accounts over a five-year period.
The scale of the theft deprived hundreds of children of teaching resources and trips out, Preston Crown Court heard.
During the period of the thefts, Ashworth had spent £33,000 on holidays, £30,000 on her sons, and £10,505 on mobile phones and televisions, as well as making £17,000 in mortgage payments.
Prosecutor Jane Dagnall said: “Mrs Ashworth systematically misled and manipulated the financial picture for the headteacher.”
A victim statement from the school’s headteacher Christina Regan stated that all the pupils, staff and parents of the school during that period had been victims of the crime.
Ashworth, of Clitheroe, had pleaded guilty last December to one count of theft and another of conversion of criminal property.
Jailing Ashworth for two years and five months this week, Judge Beverley Lunt said her crimes were based on ‘errant greed’.