Keswick School thief to repay less than half her £208,000 haul

A finance manager who stole thousands of pounds from the school where she worked has been ordered to pay back less than half what she took.

Ghislain Sharron Smithson authorised fake invoices and transferred cash from Keswick School in Cumbria.

It amounted to £208,094 but she now has assets of just less than £76,000, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

The 52-year-old, previously of Sandybeck Way, Cockermouth, must repay this within three months.

If she does not she faces a 12-month jail term in addition to a sentence of 32 months handed down in December.

Between 2012 and 2018 Smithson created fake companies and bogus invoices and diverted more than £100,000 into her account via about 50 transactions.

A software glitch also allowed the former finance manager to authorise payments from school accounts using her signature alone, despite two normally being required.

Smithson paid for holidays costing thousands of pounds and carried on stealing despite attending budget meetings at which colleagues were trying to cut costs and avoid job losses.

In an impact statement, the school's head teacher said Smithson's theft had been "devastating".