A secretary who stole £25,000 from the school where she worked to fund her £500-a-week cocaine habit.
Nia Wyn O’Sullivan was trusted with responsibilities like paying bills and handling cash at Ysgol Gymraeg Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen in Neath Port Talbot for six years, reports Wales Online.
She even collected dinner money from pupils and parents, cash from ticket sales for concerts, and paid bills, ordered stationery, and organised trips.
But during her role, she helped herself to £25,463.92 over the course of a year, most of which “went up her nose”.
The theft helped pay for her £500-a-week cocaine habit, but a a judge has ruled that she must repay just £1.
The 39-year-old, of Brynsiriol, Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, was sentenced to eight months in prison on March 8.
On Wednesday a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing took place in her absence at Swansea Crown Court where her solicitor, James Hartson, told the court: “In her police interview she admitted the majority of money stolen from her employer was used to support a cocaine habit.
“The money has entirely dissipated and she had no assets.”
Judge Paul Thomas therefore ordered O’Sullivan to pay a nominal £1 fee at the conclusion of the five-minute hearing.
Previous stages of the case heard how O’Sullivan originally turned to cocaine after developing post-natal depression.
Throughout much of 2017 O’Sullivan was pocketing a high proportion of the cash that was being paid into the school by pupils and parents and would move money between the two accounts she operated to hide the missing sums.
On two occasions she also forged the signatures of the school’s head teacher and deputy head on cheques made payable to herself.
In January 2018 “irregularities” in the school accounts were spotted and she was suspended.
