How a 'greedy' school mum forced preschool to CLOSE DOWN after swindling it out ... trends now
A 'greedy' pre-school administrator stole £65,000 to pay for takeaways, designer perfumes and a new sofa - causing the school to close down.
Claire Precious, 49, used school bank cards to make 220 purchases from Amazon, Argos and other sites over five years. She made cash withdrawals of up to £500 and even used its money to do her food shops at Asda.
After buying a new sofa from The Range she dropped her old one off at the school saying she no longer needed it.
Bassetts Farm Pre-School in Exmouth, Devon, was forced to close down as a result of the fraud.
Colleagues became suspicious when the mum-of-three, from Exmouth, gave herself a nearly £10,000 pay rise between 2018 and 2020.
Claire Precious, 49, used school bank cards to make 220 purchases from Amazon, Argos and other sites over five years
Bassetts Farm Pre-School in Exmouth, Devon, was forced to close down as a result of the fraud
Colleagues became suspicious when the mum-of-three, from Exmouth, gave herself a nearly £10,000 pay rise between 2018 and 2020
Other members of staff had difficulty getting access to the account and noticed passwords had been changed.
The police launched an investigation and Precious was arrested in January 2023.
The day she was arrested a parcel of moisturiser was delivered to the house and other items bought with school money including a set of blinds and a water dispenser were found at her home.
Chairman of the preschool, Daniel Moore, whose two children Charlie, 11, and Alice, 9, were pupils, told MailOnline: 'I was absolutely horrified when I found out.
'I don't really have any idea why she did it. From the data I have it started very small and trivial and built up over time.
'I can only presume as the judge said in court that greed got the better of her.
'I had to go through tens of
