Colleen McCabe (born 1952) is a former British schoolteacher, schoolmaster and former

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pr ...

, who stole up to £500,000 from the school where she worked.BBC report – Spending spree head jailed
bbc.co.uk; accessed 5 December 2015.

Early years

From 1974 to 1989, McCabe was a member of the

Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul ( la, Societas Filiarum Caritatis a Sancto Vincentio de Paulo), commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul, is a Society of Apostoli ...

. After 15 years she decided to leave that community, and joined the faculty of the state-funded Roman Catholic St John Rigby School where she was made headteacher in 1991."Fraudster falls ill on day she is due in court"
thescotsman.scotsman.com; accessed 5 December 2015. Before her extravagant spending was revealed, McCabe had been praised as a headmistress for her strong discipline in the school and for improving the school's facilities. She made the school grant-maintained in 1995, thus allowing the head to have complete control over the school's budget, having received the permission from the school's governors. The fraud was detected only after the school reverted to government control in 1999.

Spending

McCabe lavished money from the budget on clothes, shoes, jewellery, trips, takeaways and wine for the governors' meetings, champagne receptions and three holidays to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. This was achieved with cutbacks, including: * using her pupils and contract cleaners for

cleaning Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment. Cleaning is often performed for aesthetic, hygienic, functional, environmental, or safety purposes. Cl ...

* shutting down the school heaters * asking children to work with old

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...

s and computers * sacking, or underpaying, teachers.

Conviction

McCabe was convicted of all eleven charges of theft and six charges of

deception Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...

. She was originally jailed for five years, but this was reduced to four years on appeal. She was released in December 2005, after serving half of her sentence.

Television

McCabe was portrayed by

Pauline Quirke Pauline Perpetua Sheen ( Quirke; born 8 July 1959) is an English actress who has played Sharon Theodopolopodous in the long-running comedy series '' Birds of a Feather'' (1988–1999, 2014–2017). For this role, she won the 1990 British Comed ...

in the 2006

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

docu-drama ''The Thieving Headmistress''."Headteacher's role in TV drama-documentary"
, peterboroughtoday.co.uk; accessed 28 November 2006.

References

External links

guardian.co.uk; accessed 25 June 2014. 1952 births Living people Daughters and Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul 20th-century English Roman Catholic nuns Former Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Heads of schools in London British fraudsters British people of Irish descent Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Women heads of schools in the United Kingdom {{UK-crime-bio-stub