Former headteacher jailed for fleecing elderly friend of £215,000

A RETIRED primary school headteacher has been jailed for taking £215,000 from an elderly woman after he was entrusted to look after her financial affairs.
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Andrew Allen siphoned off the money from the bank accounts of Kathleen Steele, who was a life-long friend he knew through his local Baptist church. A court heard Allen, 60, was granted power of attorney over her financial affairs in 2007 and began to abuse the trust placed in him.

Over a three-year period Allen made around 250 illegal transactions which included cash withdrawals, transferring money into his own account and making payments to loan companies.

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During the period of offending Allen, a married father-of-two, retired from teaching receiving a lump sum pension payment of £60,000.

The offences came to light a month after Mrs Steele died in a nursing home in August 2010, aged 83.

The solicitor responsible for the execution of her will contacted the police after he had a meeting with Allen and was “astonished” at the way he had behaved.

Allen, of Friary Court, Birstall, West Yorkshire, was jailed for three-and-a-half years after he pleaded guilty to three offences of fraud.

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Prosecutor Sam Andrews told Leeds Crown Court that investigators were unable to trace where the money went.

The court heard a £400,000 High Court civil judgement had already been made against him. James Keeley, mitigating, said Allen’s offending was a result of “financial mismanagement”.

“There is no evidence of him having a Champagne lifestyle,” he added.

“He is deeply ashamed of himself.”