A NURSERY manager who spiralled into debt after taking out payday loans stole more than £14,000. Over a period of two years, Lisa Jarvis, 33, pocketed cash paid by parents of children at Busy Bees nursery in Caughey Street, west Hull, where she was employed.
She admitted theft after forging signatures from colleagues and fiddling accounts.
Jarvis also used the company credit card to spend £134 on furniture for her former home in Westlands Road, west Hull.
Prosecutor, Mark McKone, told Hull Crown Court how Jarvis, who has since been employed at another nursery, began stealing after she returned from maternity leave in September 2012.
He said: "She was responsible for the accounts and most payments into the nursery were by direct debit.
"Some were paid by cash and the payments should have been recorded in a duplicate receipt book, which should have been signed by a parent and the defendant.
"The theft involved the alteration of receipts by the defendant.
"On some receipts she wrote 'non-attender', when in fact the child had attended.
"If large amounts are taken, the procedure of counting cash should be witnessed by a colleague and payment should be entered onto an account sheet.
"The defendant failed to enter it onto the account sheet.
"She also failed to pay money into the bank, which was her responsibility."
In total, £7,700 of payments for extra nursery sessions made by parents, who normally paid by direct debit, was not recorded in the computer, and £6,500, which should have been bagged and paid into the bank, was not.
Mr McKone said: "She also had a credit card to make purchases online, which the defendant used to buy a table and chairs for herself.
"At a disciplinary meeting, she admitted the credit card use and agreed to pay the money back."
Jarvis, a mother-of-two, also stole petty cash by forging vouchers staff used to validate what the money had been spent on.
She wrote the names of two colleagues on vouchers – one as the recipient and another indicating approval – valued at £100, but when she was confronted by staff, she said: "It must have been me."
The police were called and she admitted spending £134 on furniture and forging her colleague's signature on the petty cash voucher, but put the other transfers down to "incompetency, rather than dishonesty".
In mitigation, Nigel Clive, said Jarvis and her husband had fallen into debt after her wage dropped while she was on maternity leave.
Mr Clive said: "She led a blameless life up to the point of returning from maternity leave.
"She and her husband have a relatively low budget between them – he works night shifts, she works days and they pass as ships in the night in order to keep things running.
"When she left for maternity, her wage dropped and they turned to payday loans to bridge the gap.
"The defendant fell behind with payments and a snowballing effect of the payday loans started to bite.
"She owed more than she could possibly hope to earn.
"When she returned to work, she succumbed to temptation and began to steal small amounts of money to get her from week to week.
"Before she knew it, it had become an established form of offending."
Jarvis has paid £5,000 back to Busy Bees. She promised to pay back the remainder in installments.
Recorder Rachim Singh deferred sentencing until Friday, February 20, at Grimsby Crown Court, to allow Jarvis time to repay the money.
• Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
• Crime news for Hull and East Yorkshire
