A trusted finance assistant who 'betrayed' pupils and staff by stealing tens of thousands of pounds from a school in one of Manchester's most deprived areas has been jailed.

Yvonne Crook, 44, swiped cash pupils had paid for their school dinners and clubs - as well as money they had raised for charity.

The mum, who had worked at Abraham Moss Community School for 20 years, took more than £27,000, which she spent on gambling and holidays to Italy and the Canary Islands, a court heard.

She has now been jailed for two and a half years by a judge, who described the case as 'one of the lowest examples' of a breach of trust she had ever seen.

Suspicions were first raised at the school in Crumpsall, which has 1,800 pupils, in 2016 when it was discovered there was £30 in a school account, when there should have been around £8,000.

Manchester Crown Court was told Crook was asked to look into the discrepancy, but failed to report any findings saying she 'hadn't had time', Robert Elias, prosecuting said.

(Image: M.E.N.)

A painstaking investigation was then launched by a fraud officer from Manchester council.

"Her investigation concluded that at least £27,672 of cash that she could prove the school had received, had gone missing - and that the person responsible for the loss must have been this defendant," Mr Elias said.

Most of the stolen cash was dinner money, which was paid by the pupils into a machine, which then credited their food account.

The amount also included cash paid for uniforms, trips and clubs.

The cash put into a safe, from which it was supposed to be passed onto a security firm for collection.

But on numerous occasions, that didn’t happen.

Initially, the amounts of cash going missing were sporadic, but then became more regular.

By December 2015 Crook knew 'no one had realised what was going on and the defendant then appreciated she was able to get away with these thefts with impunity – and so between March and July 2016 it became a regular failure of hers to bank the dinner money', Mr Elias said.

(Image: MEN Media)

Cash raised by the school for good causes also vanished, the court was told.

That included money raised at the Christmas Fair - around £1,400 over four years - as well as money raised for charities in Syria and a group of survivors of Rwandan genocide, two of whom visited the school to speak.

In each case, the money was passed to Crook, but she failed to pass it onto the charity making up 'excuse after excuse'.

In September 2016, every member of admin staff was due to be interviewed about the missing money, but Crook left the school before her appointment and never returned.

Post-it notes relating to the charity thefts were found in her drawer.

Police were called and detectives found she was in arrears with both her council tax and mortgage payments.

She had been on a holiday to Italy and had another to Lanzarote booked.

She had a betting account with bingo firm Gala and although she had previously had wins they estimated she had lost around £4,000.

Crook eventually told officers she was around £7,000 in debt.

When her house was searched a number of cheques for closed accounts were also found.

She said she was sent these after replying to a phishing email and had not acted on them.

The school paid the donations meant for the charities, leaving them further out of pocket.

Reading a victim impact statement on behalf of the school, associate head teacher Lynne Wilson said: "There are numerous victims of Yvonne Crook's crimes.

(Image: M.E.N.)

"The pupils are victims because they were left bemused and couldn't fathom where the money had raised for various charities had gone.

"Those charities and the people they support are victims of her deliberate and calculated theft.

"Staff are also victims. They understand more what she has done but feel a huge sense of betrayal from someone they trusted.

"This money could have paid for the salary of a well qualified teacher, and she knew this being a member of the finance team which makes her crimes even the more unforgivable."

Crook, of Thomas Street, Atherton, Wigan, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft the day she was due to stand trial.

She had already admitted one charge of being in possession of articles, intended to be used for fruad.

Alex Leach, defending said: "It is clear there are shameful offences.

"They will outrage the public and will have undermined the confidence for all those connected to the school, especially the pupils."

He said his client was at the school for a 'substantial period of time' and her crimes 'didn't reflect the full period of her service to that public institution'.

"She was living in conditions of dire financial straits," Mr Leach said.

"This is not a case the type of which the courts often see of high living.

"It is a continued denial to accept she couldn't deal with her financial situation."

(Image: M.E.N.)

He said she had numerous chronic health problems, meaning she couldn't walk more than a hundred yards and said she had been critically-ill with heart failure in August.

She showed no emotion as Judge Hilary Manley said the crimes were so serious that only an immediate prison sentence was appropriate, jailing her for two and a half years.

The judge told her: "You in a high position of trust as a finance assistant at a school in Manchester deliberately diverted money to yourself.

"You also stole money raised by pupils and staff for medical charities, victims of war in Syria and genocide survivors from Rwanda.

"Instead of passing it on you kept it and provided excuse after excuse.

"You knew it was charitable money you had stolen as you were asked by those who had raised the money where it had gone. You did it multiple times.

"For the young pupils at the school who were inspired to raise money for charities, to realise a trusted staff member had stolen it, is one of the lowest example's of betrayal of trust.

"The school is in an area of north Manchester which is one of the most economically -challenged in the country.

"Pupils there have very little money to spare.

Greater Manchester court cases We have a dedicated Facebook group covering court cases across Greater Manchester. For all the latest trial coverage and sentencing join the group here. To download our app to get all the latest news visit here.

"They were inspired to help others and stealing that money was to trample on that idealism and make a mockery of their inspiration and compassion.

"It is common knowledge in the country that schools have limited budgets and resources and as a result to steal from a school, like stealing from the National Health Service, adversely affects some of the most vulnerable in society.

"The investigation diverted energy and attention from what they should have been doing which is educating and supporting their students.

"You have broken trust and sewed disillusionment and bewilderment.

"I struggle to accept that you are truly remoresful. You continued to deny your guilt until the 11 hour. The time for contrition was much earlier."

Speaking after the case, Kim Irving for the CPS said: “Yvonne Crook had a high level of responsibility at the school and she abused that position of trust by stealing parents’ hard earned money which had been paid to the school for the pupils’ wellbeing.

"She even went a step further by stealing money intended for charities supporting vulnerable people all over the world.

“Initially she denied any involvement in the thefts, but we worked closely with the police and the local authority auditor to build a strong case against her.

"This included scrutinising her bank accounts which revealed numerous cash deposits, along with several payments to an online gambling site.

"When faced with the overwhelming evidence against her, she was left with no other option than to enter guilty pleas.”