An assistant headteacher has been jailed for stealing from his school after he fell into debt and resorted to payday loans.

Mark Hill was a highly regarded maths teacher at Westlands School in Sittingbourne when he pocketed £6,600.

Sentencing the 43-year-old, of Lester Road, Chatham, to eight months a judge told him: “The core value you would instil in students you were teaching would be never to steal.

“The worst aspect of this was that you were in a position of trust. It was a position of trust to a high degree and you broke it.”

Told that Hill was now working as a cleaner earning the minimum wage but the head of Swale Academies Trust, which runs Westlands, was trying to help Hill become a supply teacher at another school, Judge Philip Statman responded: “Tell that to the pupils.”

He added: “It is not for this court to lay down pronouncements but it may not be the way forward for parents that a man who has stolen money is employed as a supply teacher.”

Maidstone Crown Court heard Hill stole between April and July this year while having access to cash for extra-curricular duties such as organising school trips.

Despite earning £48,000 a year he was “laden with debt” and succumbed to payday loans.

Adrian Rohard, defending, said Hill, who admitted theft, had worked in sales before taking a postgraduate course and becoming a teacher.

“He has not only brought shame on himself, he is mindful of what the children will think of him, and members of the wider public as well,” he said.

“He has lost his self-esteem and respect in society. He has applied for many jobs - 40-plus.

"As soon as he mentions his criminal conviction he hears no more. It is a considerable obstacle.

“He is struggling. It is not a conviction that would stand in the way of working with children.

“The head of the trust was calling in a favour for him to work as a supply teacher at another school He would have no involvement with finances.”

Mr Rohard said Hill had already been punished significantly. He had repaid a “large chunk” of the money he took, he added.

“You have let down all these youngsters, let down your colleagues and let down yourself" - Judge Statman

Judge Statman told Hill: “You had a well-paid job and were living beyond your means. You resorted to payday merchants who cause misery on occasions such as this.

“You have let down all these youngsters, let down your colleagues and let down yourself.

"I well understand that sending your to prison today is going to be a very real punishment for you.

“It seems to me, doing the best I can, I can start at the bottom of the range.”

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