Staff man defrauded school

Last updated 19:42, Thursday, 13 March 2008

A STAFF member of St Bees School used his position to defraud his employers of nearly £15,000, a court heard last week.

Martin Heaton, who was in charge of a £100,000-a-year budget while working as the public school’s estates manager, used the school’s credit card to buy things for himself and his family and claimed reimbursement for equipment he had never bought.

Heaton, 39, pleaded guilty to nine charges at Carlisle Crown Court, including theft, false accounting and deception. The offences spanned from October 2005 to October 2006.

Heaton, who now lives in rented accommodation in Warrington, was given a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, ordered to do 250 hours unpaid community work and told to pay £2,210 court costs out of the equity gained from the sale of his house. Now his house has been sold the school is also expected to be refunded.