Scots teacher who embezzled cash from school for golf club fees and iPads struck off

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A crooked head teacher who swindled money from his own school has been struck off.

Mark Wells, 41, bought goods for himself online using school money while employed at a primary school in Linlithgow, West Lothian.

He had become well-known after he dragged his underperforming school to achieve an 'excellence' ranking two years after his appointment.

But behind the scenes he had racked up debts of £50,000 and stress caused the breakdown of his marriage.

Well admitted embezzling £1,500 from the school between June 2020 and August 2021 at Livingston Sheriff Court.

He was ordered to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work, pay the money back to West Lothian Council and was put under supervision for 18 months in August last year.

A probe was launched into his conduct by regulator the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).

Wells accepted his wrongdoing and signed a letter earlier this month to remove himself from the profession.

It will be two years before he is able to reapply to become a teacher again.

The court heard Wells had got away with using the school's Amazon account to buy a white marquee for staff and children to shelter under during the Covid pandemic.

He then used the school funds card to pay his membership fees at Kingsfield Golf Club where he was treasurer claiming he was launching a P6 golf starter programme.

Wells also used it to buy two 8th Generation Apple iPads from Currys in May 2021 only to sell them both on eBay the following month and pocket the cash.

He asked the school secretary for the receipt claiming he was going to return the hi-tech devices to the store because they couldn't be configured to the school's IT system but made no effort to return either the iPads or reimburse the school.

And when he moved house he used the school's purchase card to hire a van from a local company, claiming he used it to collect items from another school.

Council staff later reported a potential issue with the use of his school's funds and the investigation revealed his deceit.

He later told the council's fraud investigators: "It's an awful mistake. I'm really ashamed and I've put my career in jeopardy."

Sheriff Peter Hammond told Wells: "Despite the fact this was an egregious breach of trust, I'm able to find an alternative to a custodial sentence by way of a sentence in the community."

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