text: 'Fallen from grace' - Solihull school manager stole more than £5k of money raised to help pupils - Birmingham Live
  'Fallen from grace' - Solihull school manager stole more than £5k of money raised to help pupils
  Sarah Kenwick-Moore, who was in financial difficulties, stole more than £5,000 from a parent teacher' association - money raised to help the pupils
  School bursar Sarah Kenwick-Moore who stole over £5,000 from a parent teacher association after getting into debt (Image: Birmingham Live)
  A bursar for a school in Solihull plundered more than £5,000 from a parent-teacher association fund.
  Birmingham magistrates told Sarah Kenwick-Moore the case was serious because it was an abuse of trust and that "the victims were children from that school."
  But in sentencing her to 18 weeks suspended for two years they said they had taken into account that she was a mother of a young family and had no previous convictions.
  Kenwick Moore, 42, of Wagon Lane, Solihull, who had previously admitted a charge of fraud by abuse of position between September 2018 and September 2020 was also ordered to pay £5,682 compensation and £600 costs.
  Kenwick-Moore was a trustee of the Daylesford school parent-teacher association and also a bursar and business manager at Olton Primary School which opened in September 2018 and was amalgamated with Daylesford school.
  In October 2019 staff became aware that £200 had "gone missing" after being withdrawn from a school bank account, said Aqsa Hussain, prosecuting.
  Investigations revealed there was very little paperwork relating to the Daylesford parent-teacher association.
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  When quizzed Kenwick-Moore said she had cashed a cheque for that amount but could not remember why.
  She tendered her resignation in August 2020 and when later interviewed she admitted taking money from the parent teacher's association fund for her own purposes and had intended to replace it.
  Miss Hussain said the £5,682 the defendant took had been raised at various events and would have been used to buy equipment.
  Mohammed Nasser, defending, said that she had accepted her guilt and that it was not a case where anyone else had been suspected.
  "It was need rather than greed," he said.
  Mr Nasser said the financial burden was split between her and her husband and that she was responsible for the upkeep of the household and daily expenses.
  "She took out a credit card loan to pay for the expenses and it just gradually spiralled out of control," he added.
  He said she had been seeing her GP and had suffered from anxiety, depression, insomnia, and panic attacks.