A woman named Wendy Gill, who worked at Bramcote Church of England Primary School in Bramcote, Nottinghamshire, has been jailed for more than £70,000 after taking the money from the school over a period of six years. The court heard that Gill took the money to fund her partner’s drug habit.
Gill, aged 61, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by abuse of position. Nottingham Crown Court sentenced her to two years and one month in prison. Since 2006, Gill had been working at the school, starting as an office manager before becoming business manager.
At a meeting of governors in June 2022, a deficit in the school’s accounts was found. A financial investigation followed, during which Gill admitted taking the money from the school’s bank account and using it as if it was her own. Mr. Cheung, the prosecutor, said that as a result of her deceit, children at the school suffered.
Between April 2016 and June 2022, Gill took a total of £70,581.51 from funding provided for the school by the Department for Education. Sarah Meredith, the head teacher at Bramcote, spoke of the “significant impact” on everyone connected to the school in a victim impact statement read out in court. She said she had to consider making redundancies among staff to compensate for the deficit, with pupils affected by cuts.
Defending Gill, Luc Chignell said that she felt “under pressure to provide finances to her partner and his son to fund their ongoing drug misuse”. He said she was “utterly ashamed” of her actions, which had caused personal stress and detracted from day-to-day school management. Sentencing Gill, Judge James Bide-Thomas noted that Gill’s offending was “made worse by the fact that people all thought of you as a friend,” adding that Ms. Meredith had suffered “considerable distress, anxiety, [and] sleepless nights” in dealing with her actions.
The school had to fundraise for basics such as textbooks and could not update computers due to her control of the finances. While acknowledging Gill was in a relationship with an “abusive” partner, Judge Bide-Thomas said the effect on the community meant “appropriate punishment can only be achieved with immediate imprisonment”. Following sentencing, the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham released a statement on behalf of the school. “This has been a deeply painful time for the members of the school, but they are recovering well,” the statement said
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