School swimming manager stole £4k
Woman fined after pocketing money for lessons
The swimming manager at one of Perthshire’s top private schools embezzled £4000 over a four-year period and then used the cash to pay off her credit card debts.
Forty-one-year-old Stacy Bookless, who later resigned from her post and now runs her own fitness company, was fined £2250 when she appeared for sentence at Perth Sheriff Court this week.
She has already repaid £2000 of the missing cash and was ordered to make good the balance at the rate of £500 a month.
Bookless, of Fordyce Way, Auchterarder, admitted pocketing the cash between May 6, 2014, and November 1, 2018, at Kilgraston School, Bridge of Earn.
Depute fiscal Malcolm Sweeney told the court: “In September 2018, she was off work due to illness - and, in her absence, the swimming coach took control of the money coming in for swimming lessons.”
Another member of staff would then uplift any cash that had been handed in to prevent it lying around the office.
That person noticed envelopes, with names she did not recognise, in the office.
There were also amounts of cash written on the envelopes. However, there was no money in the envelopes.
Checks were subsequently carried out to see if any of the amounts had been paid into the school’s account but there was “no match”.
The school’s director of sport and the Kilgraston head teacher were then informed and a “full investigation was carried out”.
On October 20, 2018, when the accused returned to school, she was spoken to by another member of staff and was suspended pending a disciplinary hearing.
But Bookless, who had been in her role since 2009, resigned shortly afterwards.
The police were contacted and they obtained a search warrant to access banking details of not only the accused but “numerous” other individuals.
During interview, she admitted she had provided her own personal bank details to various families who were using the pool for swimming lessons and she had “effectively taken that money directly, rather than give it to the school”.
The fiscal added: “She said she had fallen into debt with credit cards and had used this money to pay off the debt.”
A solicitor for the accused said during her employment she had “gone above and beyond,” working 70 hours a week but only getting paid for 39.
Because of that, “resentment” had built up. She had been approached by a parent for swimming lessons and because the class was fully booked, she gave private lessons.
The lawyer added: “She is regretful of her actions and has asked me to apologise. She is ashamed and has shown remorse.”
She now ran her own fitness business and also volunteers at a Move Ahead project which teaches people with mental health problems to play hockey.
Reacting to the sentence, Dorothy MacGinty, head teacher at Kilgraston School, said: “Kilgraston School takes any matters of financial irregularity very seriously.
“After the offence was discovered, the matter was reported to and investigated by Police Scotland with the full cooperation of the school.
“Since this incident, more stringent procedures have been implemented to prevent future risk.”