The Thieving Nun

A thief believes everybody steals

Two of England's most famous people come from West Wickham.

Enid Blyton, the writer and W.G. Grace, the cricketer.

Perhaps less well known is Colleen McCabe but remembered she will be in West Wickham for as long as records of misdeeds are kept.

From 1974 to 1989 she was a nun with the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.

After 15 years she decided to become a teacher, and joined St John Rigby Roman Catholic School where she was made headteacher in 1991.

**

If you walk up Layhams Road in West Wickham you will see All Saints Catholic School.

All Saints Catholic School was previously St John Rigby Roman Catholic School.

Opened in 1979, St John Rigby Roman Catholic college was a voluntary aided school, maintained in partnership with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark. Staff at the school were employed by the governing body.

Between 1994 and 1999, St John Rigby college lost at least £500,000 as McCabe forged signatures and lived a high life financed by the school's corporate credit card.

McCabe, bought Gucci jewellery, meals at fine restaurants, West End theatre "extravaganza" trips, a journey on the Orient Express and sunshine holidays.

Meanwhile her school went from one financial crisis to another, with a library full of empty shelves and teachers having to clean their own classrooms.

On top of her use of the school's credit card, she made "substantial withdrawals" from school accounts to clear personal credit card excesses.

Between January 1993 and September 1999, the school was grant maintained, and it was the freedom of this status that allowed McCabe to steal without fear of discovery. Grant maintained schools were free to buy services where they wished, and St John Rigby's governors chose not to use Bromley council's auditors.

The two firms of auditors employed by the school missed the thefts.

Baxter & Co of Orpington and MacIntyre of Holborn were criticised by the trial judge. Gaping holes in the accounts that both firms apparently missed were spotted by Bromley's auditors "within a day of looking at the books", said the presiding judge at McCabe's trial..

In the same period, the school was given a clean bill of health by Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills as part of Her Majesty's Chief Inspectors of Schools).

Inspectors visited the school in 1996, 18 months after McCabe began using the school funds as a personal bank. Ofsted reported that "the principal and the senior management team provide strong leadership and a clear ethos".

Moreover, inspectors thought McCabe provided "strong, sensitive and skilful leadership". Financial planning and administration were "good". The school provided "good value for money" and the auditors' report was "excellent".

An Ofsted spokesperson said inspectors were not auditors and had relied upon the accounts and the auditors' report. But that doesn't explain their failure to spot a headteacher who staff described as a "bully and a despot"

McCabe's thieving came to light in 1999, with the end of grant maintained status.

Bromley Council took over control of the school and their auditors made a routine visit. What they found led first to the suspension of delegated powers - in effect the school was no longer allowed control of its day-to-day budget - and McCabe's arrest followed swiftly afterwards.

Three years later she was beginning a jail sentence.