Harrogate dinner lady boss stole £100k of pupil's school dinner fund for gambling habit

A dinner woman boss with a playing habit has been jailed after stealing nearly £100,000 from a college.

Catering supervisor Betty Susan Davidson, 57, was a trusted worker at Rossett College for a complete of just about twenty years however began stealing in 2007.

She helped herself to a complete of £98,114 over eight years by fixing the books that accounted for cash put right into a pre-payment machine for workers and pupils.

Catering supervisor Betty Susan Davidson, 57, has been jailed after stealing nearly £100,000 from Rossett College, the place she labored for almost 20 years

Cash was put into the machine and transferred into cashless credit score for pupils, which was used to pay for meals on the college in in Harrogate, North Yorrkshire.

Davidson was accountable for taking money out of the machine and accounting for it, however she was serving to herself to hundreds of kilos earlier than depositing the money.

Davidson, from Harrogate, was 'an establishment' on the college and the cash was by no means checked due to the belief positioned in her, York Crown Courtroom heard.

The extent of her dishonesty was solely uncovered final 12 months when a finance director seemed into the accounts.

When Davidson was confronted she admitted to solely taking £1,300 however investigations revealed the true extent of her theft.

Chloe Farley, prosecuting, stated: 'Given how lengthy the defendant was working on the college and the diploma of belief positioned on her there was no auditing of her.

'The defendant was requested for an account of the lacking cash and she or he gave numerous excuses.

'She accepted it occurred on one event and she or he had taken the sum of £1,300.

'There was a disciplinary listening to and she or he wrote a letter of resignation, however maintained this had been a single error.'

The court docket heard Davidson had a critical playing habit and would spend the cash on-line, typically on a number of websites on the similar time.

She started by taking small quantities, however as soon as her confidence grew, she took sums as excessive as £17,000 from the machine.

The catering supervisor helped herself to a complete of £98,114 over eight years at Rossett College in Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Alasdair Campbell, defending Davidson, stated that even her husband had no concept of his spouse's habit and it was hidden from everybody.

She has sought counselling for the sickness and 'feels horrible' in regards to the theft and letting the varsity down.

Davidson admitted theft and was jailed one 12 months and 4 months.

The Honorary Recorder of York, Choose Paul Batty, QC, stated: 'No-one questioned the quantities that you simply emptied from the machine since you have been little question an establishment on the college.

'The fact is that in simply over an eight 12 months interval you stole slightly below £100,000.

'This was not a case the place you wanted the cash. You weren't stealing to feed and dress your loved ones with the naked requirements of life.

'You have been stealing to fund a behavior and habit, a behavior and habit which has in the end ruined you.'

A spokesman for Rossett College added: 'We have been deeply shocked to seek out that she had betrayed the belief we put in her, and notably to the extent that was later uncovered.

'It was a deliberate act of theft and we're relieved that this has been recognised by way of her conviction and the sentence given to her by the court docket.'

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