34-year-old William Egan has been given a 2-year prison sentence after stealing in excess of £8,000 from St Helens Primary School’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA).
Disgraced Egan, now of Lincoln, admitted fraud by abuse of position and was sentenced to jail time at the Isle of Wight Crown Court today (Wednesday).
The situation began some 3 years ago – in May 2018 – when funds were needed to make improvements to the village primary school. Unemployed Egan almost immediately resigned from his position as chair, governor and treasurer of the PTA leaving remaining governors to try and access the much-needed funds. It soon transpired that William and his wife had full control over the HSBC bank account and that a significant amount of money was unaccounted for.
3 months later and Police moved in to arrest Egan, who said in interview that he was reimbursing himself for work carried out at the school. No evidence of this was ever provided.
Daniel Sawyer, prosecuting, told the court how Egan used the money to fund his lifestyle including days outs and shopping. William Egan is said to have used several aliases and has previously been convicted of fraud. He lied to the school, which his child attended, to gain his position on the PTA.
Ellie Sheahan, defending, blamed Egan’s mental health for the situation and explained how family illness led to an emotional time for him. She said her client is ashamed of his behaviour and is now on medication, resulting in him no longer being the man he was before.
However, it was said in court that suggestions of a mental breakdown and domestic violence were seemingly lies, which tied in with Egan’s history of lying.
Judge Tim Mousley QC sentenced William Egan to 24 months in prison and ordered him to pay just £1,000 in compensation.
should have made him pay it all back in full and the interest its about time we had a judge with the balls to do the job right all this will mean is yes you can rip of people and don’t have to pay it all back
Are you telling me that a head teacher who runs a school with less than 100 pupils on roll – on a 50k salary – cannot supervise how PTA money is being spent? 8k missing before anyone notices that figures don’t balance? Fascinating.
i guess you would never ever be caught out by an experienced and professional fraudster eh?
So stealing £8000 and he is handed a 2 year prison sentence YET we are seeing Paedo’s given suspended sentences or even weaker … the system is pathetic ….. I would rather see a man walking in the street it was stolen £8000 rather than see a pedophile in our community
and someone else, recently got a conditional discharge for having £3.5k of weed growing in the house.