Teaching assistant stole iPads from school

Springhead Infant School, Lees

A TEACHING assistant who sold iPads she stole from her school for hundreds of pounds on eBay while allowing a Royal Mail delivery driver to be blamed for the theft has been sentenced.

Emma Louise Smith, 36, of Tawney Close, Lees, a former teaching assistant at Springhead Infant and Primary School, was given a 16-week jail term, suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to pay £1,306 compensation and fees of £1,339.82 after she pleaded guilty at Tameside Magistrates' Court.

The drama unfolded when Parcelforce Worldwide delivered seven parcels to Springhead Infant and Primary school on March 11. However, three days later, it was reported to Parcelforce that one of the parcels, which contained five Apple iPad 4 tablets was missing, presumed stolen by the delivery driver, who maintained he had delivered all the parcels and had obtained a signature from the school administrator at the time.

Enquiries by Apple revealed that one of the missing iPads was active and being used in the Hastings area of East Sussex. Investigators found the user had purchased the tablet from an eBay account used by Smith. In total she had sold three for £250 each.

Smith was arrested on May 10, when police recovered the remaining two iPads from her home, along with another iPad, which had been reported stolen in January.

Forensic

Smith claimed during a police interview that she had recently bought the five iPads from a man when she advertised that she wanted an iPad on Facebook and had got them from the boot of his car in a local park after paying £100 for each of them.

However, a digital forensic analysis of the defendant's iPhone revealed no evidence to support her version of events and a text message dated March 16 ­- two weeks before she claimed to have placed the advert on Facebook ­- showed the defendant in conversation with her neighbours, where she mentions the sale of an Apple iPad Mini 4.

Analysis of her school key fob showed that in a 20-minute period on the day the package was stolen she had used the staff entrance on five separate occasions.

It was revealed that over a four-week period spanning two weeks either side of this day she had used the door on only two occasions, both on March 22.