Hartlepool school cook stole £60,000 of kids' dinner money

Paula Kester pocketed the cash over a four-year period when she had responsibility for counting the money brought in by pupils.

Kester was head cook at St Hild’s School in Hartlepool where children used a pre-payment card scheme but "inadequate" checks were made in accounting for their cash.

The 53-year-old denied four charges of theft, but was found guilty after a trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Paula Kester, 53, at Teesside Crown Court. Picture: North News & Pictures

Her case was adjourned by Judge Peter Armstrong for a pre-sentence report to be compiled by a probation officer, and she was given bail until her next appearance.

The judge told her: "I have to warn you that the renewal of your bail at this stage must not be taken by you as any indication that the sentence will be anything other than an immediate custodial one. You have to be prepared for that."

Prosecutors could not say where the money had gone, but Kester had paid £20,000 into her bank between 2012 and 2016.

During a week-long trial, she told a jury of eight women and four men that she had won the lottery and sold a car.

Martin Towers, prosecuting, had earlier told jurors: “Dinners were paid for using a card scheme. Pupils would put their card and money into one of five machines, which are known as revaluation machines, which would transfer the cash value to the card.

"At the end of each day there was quite a large amount of cash in the various machines.

"As head cook, it was Mrs Kester’s sole responsibility to count the money and prepare it for the bank.

“Mrs Kester would make the declaration saying how much money there was.”

Mr Towers said there was a "large gap" in the school’s processes.

"The machines produced a printout of how much money they had taken that day,” he said.

No-one compared that printout to the amount declared by Ms Kester.

“Over the four-year period, more than £60,000 of dinner money paid into the machines went missing.

“It is the prosecution’s case that only she had the opportunity to create the false record and take the money.

“The system, you may feel, was inadequate, it was comparatively easy for the head cook to abuse the trust placed in her and take advantage of it.”

The jury was told Kester took money many times during the four years, but not every day.

An investigation was launched in April 2016 after an external auditor uncovered discrepancies in the accounts.

“This eventually involved the police,” said Mr Towers. "During her interview with officers, Ms Kester seemed to accept money may have gone missing, but she said she had not taken it.

“She offered no alternative explanation. The police looked into her finances, many cash transactions leave no trace, particularly years later.

“The £20,000 cash paid into her bank account is barely a third of the missing money, but we say that is a potential explanation of what happened to some of it.”

Kester, of Percy Street, Hartlepool, will return to court to be sentenced on October 4.

Martin Scarborough, defending, told the jury that Kester was not in sole charge of signing off the cash takings and that sometimes others within the school would sign the sheets.

He said the machines were "often faulty" and in one school year had to be visited by engineers as many as 22 times.

St Hild's Church of England School, off King Oswy Drive, is a voluntary-aided school, administer by Hartlepool Borough Council and the Church of England Diocese of Durham.

A Hartlepool Borough Council spokesman said: “As soon as we became aware of an issue an investigation was launched and the matter was subsequently reported to the police.

"Paula Kester was dismissed from her job with the council in 2016.

“Procedures relating to the collection of dinner money by the council’s School Meals Service have been reviewed and we are confident that such a situation could not occur again.”