A woman who stole thousands of pounds from the school she worked at has been jailed.
Ghislaine Smithson, 52, admitted taking around £188,000 from Keswick School in Cumbria, which included money she used to pay for a family holiday.
Smithson was employed as the school's finance manager for 10 years between 2008 and 2018.
When she left her role, officials at the school found large sums of money had been paid into two separate bank accounts owned by Smithson since 2012.
Investigations found that she had also used the school bank account to pay for a family holiday and used a school credit card to take out travel money and book a hotel room without permission.
The total amount of money she stole from the school is believed to be around £188,000.
Smithson, of Sandybeck Way, Cockermouth, admitted theft by employee when she appeared before Carlisle Crown Court.
She has been jailed for two years and eight months.
Detective Constable James Graham, of the west Cumbria crime command department, who led the investigation, said: “Smithson occupied a position of trust – but she abused this to steal a significant amount of money from the school.
“The vigilance of the school uncovered this.
“We worked closely with the school during this investigation and financial inquiries were able to piece together what had happened.”
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