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A secondary school teacher received penalties after being found guilty of stealing money from students.
Twenty-eight-year-old Andrew Cowey was a teacher who previously had a good background at Dene / diːn / Community School in Durham / ˈdɚrəm /, England.
However, from July 2016 to April 2017, a debt-ridden Cowey pocketed the money he had collected for the students’ school trips to the theater.
The teacher lied about the cost of the school trips and took the extra money. He recorded the trips as either free or funded by a charity called Friends of Dene. Then, he tried to cover his tracks by deleting the trips’ accounting records and revising the cost of some school trips in the letters sent to parents.
Eventually, his crime was exposed, but he continued to collect money despite an order from his superior to stop.
Because of his actions, Cowey received theft charges. In December 2017, the teacher admitted to the charges at Durham Crown Court. Hence, the court sentenced him to pay a compensation of £5,000 and render community service for 12 months.
Recently, the professional conduct panel of United Kingdom’s Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) imposed a five-year teaching ban on Cowey, who had expressed disgust over his own actions.
The panel noted Cowey’s remorse and acknowledged that he was suffering from emotional and financial difficulties. However, according to TRA Chief Executive Alan Meyrick, the ban still has to be imposed so that the community’s confidence in the teaching profession will not be tarnished.
Meyrick also mentioned that the panel considered how teachers must behave as role models because these individuals have an influential role in their students’ lives and in the community as a whole.