[A] WOMAN has admitted stealing tens of thousands of pounds while working at a Carlisle pre-school nursery.
When she appeared at the city’s crown court, Christine Rowley admitted the theft of money from First Friends Nursery between January, 2012, and April last year.
It is the prosecution’s case that 42-year-old Rowley stole £54,856.35. However, Judge James Adkin heard the exact figure was disputed, with the defence claiming the sum to be lower. Some of the cash stolen is said to have been repaid.
Rowley also admitted four fraud offences – three by making false representations and signing cheques using another woman’s name on separate dates in 2013; and one by creating “false bank statements”.
The court heard Rowley, of Oglanby Terrace, Fletchertown, had submitted a written basis for her guilty pleas, and was said to be a woman of previous good character. A former treasurer at the nursery, she was employed as an administrator.
Judge Adkin adjourned the hearing, and listed the case for sentence on September 6.
Rowley was granted bail, but the judge said: “You may well find yourself in a perilous position.”
