School finance manager stole £269,000

A trusted finance manager stole more than £250,000 from the primary school where she worked. Kerry Smith wrote cheques out to herself from the school.

She deceived teachers, pupils and parents at Willenhall's Fibbersley Park Primary to pocket almost £269,000 in total.

The 43-year-old's fraud was today described as a "contrived and well-worked plan" by education bosses.

Smith, of Stowheath Lane, Bilston, appeared at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday, pleading guilty to one count of theft and 12 counts of fraud.

Councillor Sean Coughlan, chair of governors at Fibbersley Park, today said: "We were severely let down and deceived by Kerry. It was a bitter blow, especially at a time when we were talking about school budget pressures and the possibility of losing teaching staff.

"It took months and months of investigating with the audit team at Serco to uncover all of this."

Smith took cash between September 2007 and December 2010 .

The cheques were written out to such accounts as K Smith, Kerry Smith, Argos Card Services, Marks and Spencer Money, HSBC, Santander Consumer Credit Services Ltd, and MBNA. One of the cheques was for £241,968.65.

Smith was released on unconditional bail until August 31.