The headteacher of a Catholic main faculty in Kensington has been struck off after spending over £56,000 on Amazon and prepare tickets utilizing the college’s bank card.
Christopher McPhilemy, 47, didn’t account for the ‘mistake purchases’ revamped a three-year interval from 2020 to 2023, spending over £16,000 on digital provides and nearly £5,000 on prepare fares and Tube journey.
An investigation discovered that there had been no audit path into Mr McPhilemy’s purchases and he blamed an absence of monetary procedures throughout the Catholic main faculty.
The misconduct panel heard how the headteacher transferred nearly £10,000 again to the college after saying that his Apple Pay had been ‘mistakenly’ linked to the college bank card.
After it was discovered that £56,198 had been spent on the corporate card – solely half of which had supporting card statements – he was struck off.
Mr McPhilemy turned headmaster at Our Woman of Victories RC Major College in Kensington and Chelsea in September 2016, and was issued a faculty Barclays Financial institution card as a part of the position.
At first of his headship, the bursar had been made redundant and Mr McPhilemy was left to kind out the college’s funds alongside operating the college.
Following an investigation, it was discovered {that a} complete of £4,612 had been spent on an Oyster card and different rail journey between June 2020 and July 2023.
Christopher McPhilemy (pictured) spent over £56,000 on Amazon and prepare tickets utilizing the college’s bank card whereas headteacher
An investigation discovered that there had been no audit path into Mr McPhilemy’s purchases and he blamed an absence of monetary procedures throughout the Catholic main faculty
Throughout the identical interval, £16,758 had been spent on a spread of provides – together with Amazon, eBay, Sainsbury’s and Argos.
The objects have been wide-ranging and included instructional supplies, IT objects, artwork assets, home items and digital units.
Mr McPhilemy offered screenshots of receipts from his private Amazon account to the panel, which have been annotated to label them as private or skilled use. However the faculty stated he had by no means offered them with any Amazon receipts.
Inside the transactions some have been labelled as ‘mistake purchases’ as a consequence of ‘oversight and lack of consideration to element’.
The college bank card was arrange by way of a direct debit – that means that each month the cardboard was paid off, no matter whether or not the college had any receipts. The entire spend on the bank card over the interval was £56,196.
Simply over half of that, £29,317, had supporting bank card statements – however for the remaining £26,879, there was no proof of the spend and there was ‘no clear audit path’.
In December 2020 it was discovered that Mr McPhilemy had been awarded £1,200 for journey bills after his request for a full annual season ticket had been rejected.
In October 2023 he transferred £4,612 for his private journey expenditure and £5,257 to the college for private purchases made on the college’s bank card.
When challenged about receipts Mr McPhilemy stated: ‘There was no process in place and I settle for that there ought to have been. I agree that there was no system for retaining information.’
When requested in regards to the £1,784 in Oyster Card top-ups and prepare tickets he stated the earlier headteacher was given an Addison Lee card and he accepted them in ‘good religion’.
He claimed that each fee on the college bank card was for ‘official school-related functions’ however accepted that he didn’t arrange an appropriate accounting system.
He stated that the college bank card had been ‘mistakenly’ linked to his Apple Pay account and he had chosen the wrong card when buying rail tickets on-line.
In July 2023 the chair of the governors acquired a letter from a number of unnamed members of employees elevating considerations about Mr McPhilemy, and he was suspended after an investigation started.
After the police contacted the college, Mr McPhilemy transferred £9,870 to the college to account for funds assigned to him.
He was sacked in November 2023 and the college governors introduced the case to the Educating Regulation Company (TRA).
It was later discovered that he had additionally failed to take care of applicable safeguarding information and paperwork about employees throughout the faculty.
Colleagues described him as ‘exceptionally form, affected person and emotionally current’ and ‘deeply principled and values-led’.
The Educating Laws Authority boss, David Oatley, determined that Mr McPhilemy needs to be banned from educating indefinitely to ‘preserve public confidence within the occupation’.
Our Woman of Victories RC Major College, which had been rated Good by Ofsted, closed and have become an academy in April 2025.
Mr Oatley stated: ‘The panel famous that it discovered confirmed that Mr McPhilemy, throughout a interval of approaching two years, dishonestly and with an absence of integrity had charged private bills to his faculty bank card and made no makes an attempt to reconcile or reimburse any such fee.
‘The panel famous that though elements of the actions came about outdoors the classroom educating setting, the conduct occurred inside Mr McPhilemy’s position as headteacher and straight associated to his skilled duties.
‘The findings of misconduct are severe, and the panel thought of the conduct displayed could be prone to have a destructive influence on the person’s standing as a trainer.
‘The panel thought of that the general public would take into account public funds being dishonestly misused in the way in which that it had decided that Mr McPhilemy had carried out to be wholly unacceptable.
‘The panel thought of that public confidence within the occupation may very well be significantly weakened if conduct similar to that discovered towards Mr McPhilemy weren’t handled with the utmost seriousness when regulating the conduct of the occupation.’
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