63-year-old Debra Poole was handed six and a half years in jail after being found guilty of fraud in 2023.
She was the School Business Manager for Hinchley Wood Primary and was in charge of its bank accounts.
Poole abused her position between October 2011 and October 2018 by transferring funds and writing and cashing cheques to herself.
The amount totalled over £490,000.
It’s been agreed Poole should pay the available amount she has access to, including the sale of her house, within three months.
If she does not, she will either have to apply to extend the deadline or serve a default prison sentence of three years and eight months.
If the default sentenced is invoked, Poole would still need to pay the confiscation order.
Detective Inspector Charley Bryant from the Economic Crime Unit, said: “The outcome following the confiscation hearing today demonstrates that we will go after people who have benefited from the proceeds of crime and ensure that they do not continue to do so.
“Debra Poole stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from Hinchley Wood Primary School while she was employed there as business manager. This gross breach of trust and her elaborate deception spanning some nine years funded an extravagant lifestyle and afforded her luxury holidays and cars which she would not otherwise have been able to afford.
“I have no doubt that this would have continued had the school not worked out what was going on and reported the matter to police, resulting in a lengthy and complex investigation which included examining bank accounts and hundreds of documents to prove that she had defrauded the school.
“The fact that we have pursued this to a confiscation hearing should also be a deterrent to anyone else thinking of committing similar offences that it is simply not worth the risk – not only could you end up in prison, you could also have everything taken away from you as well.”
