Headteacher stole school cash

A headteacher from Shropshire has been jailed for two years after he stole more than £80,000 from school funds.

Grahame Arnold was convicted of stealing the cash from the Adams School in Wem.

The 58-year-old denied 30 charges of stealing the money from the secondary school in the late 1990s.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard that school business manager Roger Dakin had questioned payments to Arnold's credit card accounts.

Arnold said he claimed the money legally

But Arnold told Mr Dakin the local education authority had given its blessing for his expenses to be paid in this way.

Arnold told the court he had claimed the money legally for consultancy work and had reached a verbal agreement with a local education authority officer.

Arnold, of St Margaret's Drive, in Wellington, who was also the former chairman of the county's secondary heads' association, could also face legal action from the county council to recover the stolen money.

Shropshire County Council discovered the thefts following an auditing process and said no comment could be made because civil proceedings had begun to recover the money.