School worker gets suspended jail sentence for fraud
Clare O鈥橠owd was a care club manager at St Nicholas Church of England Primary in Shepperton
- Published
A care club manager at a Surrey school who used her position to make personal purchases has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Clare O鈥橠owd, of West Molesey, had access to cards and cash at St Nicholas Church of England Primary, in Shepperton.
The 42-year-old made purchases, including flights and gift cards, with a combined total of about 拢15,000.
O鈥橠owd pleading guilty to one count of fraud by abuse of position and was sentenced to 20 months in prison suspended for two years at a Guildford Magistrates鈥 Court hearing.
She was also ordered to repay 拢13,017 and to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
From March 2021 O鈥橠owd made personal purchases on the school鈥檚 payment card over 18 months.
She also attempted to disguise one of the purchases as a school purchase by logging a fake receipt and took cash from the school, police said.
The school reported the fraudulent transactions to police in December 2022.
Det Con Michael Bambrough said O鈥橠owd had 鈥渃ontinually breached the school鈥檚 trust鈥.
鈥淭he length of time that O'Dowd offended for, and that she even tried to cover up her deceit, shows the lengths that she was prepared to go to,鈥 he said.
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