School cut jobs after finance boss stole £130k

Kevin Enright stole from St Leonard's Catholic School

A school had to cut jobs and spending on pupils after its finance manager plundered almost £130,000 from its accounts, a court has heard.

Kevin Enright left St Leonard's Catholic School in Durham more than £80,000 in debt when he made dozens of fraudulent transactions between 2019 and 2020, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

He tried to mask the thefts by creating fake invoices with the money then used to pay gambling debts, the court heard.

Enright, 46 and from Houghton-le-Spring, was jailed for two years three months after admitting fraud by abuse of a position of trust.

He began working as the business and finance manager at the Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust, which runs the 1,265-pupil school, in June 2018, prosecutor Saba Shan said.

Enright was suspended from his job due to "unrelated performance concerns" in September 2020, with another finance manager then being given access to his emails, the court heard.

'Job losses made'

That manager discovered "irregular transactions" and the depth of Enright's theft was rapidly revealed, Ms Shan said.

Between February 2019 and November 2020, Enright made 104 transactions ranging from £300 to about £7,000 a time, the court heard.

On the "face of it" the payments were made for invoices to school suppliers but in reality the money went into accounts controlled by Enright, Ms Shan said.

In total, he stole £129,160.43 from the school leaving the institution about £82,000 in debt, the prosecutor said.

In a statement read to the court, the school said, to make up the shortfall, it had to restructure its support staff with a number of redundancies having to be made, although the exact number of job losses was not disclosed.

'Significant impact left legacy'

Spending on items such as books and school equipment as well as other curriculum activities also had to be cut, with the impact being felt by pupils for a number of years, the statement said.

The school said Enright had been "entrusted to safeguard public funds" and his actions had "directly resulted" in pupils not being able to "benefit" from the money meant for their education.

He had also created "mistrust" in staff in similar positions to his, the school said.

In mitigation, Shada Mellor said Enright developed deep depression and a gambling addiction after the "very unpleasant" end of his 15-year marriage and he was "very sorry to all concerned".

The court heard he is still £35,000 in debt.

Recorder Felicity Davies said his actions had had a "significant" impact on the school and had left a "legacy" over five years since the fraud was committed.