Mother stole £46,000 from Catholic PTA over five years

A MOTHER who ran the Parent Teachers Association group at a Roman Catholic primary school is facing jail after stealing up to £46,000 raised during school fetes and afternoon teas.

Sally Connolly, 43, was the chairwoman of the group at St Catherine’s School in Didsbury, Greater Manchester, when she took the money.

The cash, which was taken between 2010 and 2015, was then paid into accounts belonging to her 47-year-old husband John, who works as a senior trainer for a catering company, and her mother. Neither was aware of the source of the money.

Police are thought to have been called in after inquiries revealed there was cash missing from the school’s PTA account and Connolly went into the school and confessed taking money.

Yesterday, at Manchester magistrates’ court, the mother-of-two wept as she admitted five charges of theft. She was sent to Crown Court for sentencing on May 11 and could face up to three and a half years years in jail.

Few details were given at the hearing but the prosecutor said the school had filed a 37-page statement detailing illicit transactions. In one year, it is claimed, Connolly stole over £16,000.

The court heard she had since paid back £20,000, but Helen Longworth, defending, said: “The amount really is not the crucial issue in this case and is not the crucial issue that will determine the sentence. It’s the breach of trust that’s occurred.”

Connolly has been granted unconditional bail pending sentencing.