Christine Starkey, 59, diverted funds from the independent and relatively poor St Chad’s College, part of Durham University, over a period of five yea

Christine Starkey, 59, diverted funds from the independent and relatively poor St Chad’s College, part of Durham University, over a period of five years.University bursar who stole almost £500,000 from her college employers and spent much of it on clothes has been jailed for three years.Durham Crown Court heard how the future of the 104-year-old college was now in jeopardy because of her dishonesty.Starkey made a total of 198 transfers from the college either to her matrimonial joint account,or her sole account, the court heard.Her husband, now living in Spain, knew nothing about the thefts, Steven Orange, prosecuting, said.Robert Mochrie, defending, said his client had a compulsion to buy clothes.She was mentally-ill with depression and sought happiness through buying, he said."By and large I would suggest that most of the money has gone to purchase absurd items," he said.When officers raided her £240,000 house in Eaglescliffe, Teesside - now sold - they found boxes of clothes strewn around, and many of the items were unworn.But Mr Mochrie conceded some of the stolen money went to pay the mortgage on the house, and on an extension.
The cash from the house sale has been frozen pending a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing next year.She admitted stealing £488,000 from 2002 to December 2007, when the college became aware that money was missing.She also admitted money laundering, in that she used the stolen cash to buy products.Mr Orange said: "St Chad’s has about 300 students and as bursar, Mrs Starkey’s responsibility covered all financial matters."She diverted money from the college’s staff salary account, from profits it made on commercial ventures and even took £10,000 in cash that students paid for laundry tokens.She then covered up the thefts by misreporting the accounts at finance meetings.At first she admitted to the college finance committee that she had stolen £93,000. She was then sacked, and officials contacted police.As detectives scoured her accounts, and those of the college, the true extent of the theft was revealed.In a victim impact statement, college principal Dr Joe Cassidy wrote that the breach of trust damaged staff morale, caused funding headaches because higher education authorities needed assurances about how it handled finances and had disillusioned benefactors, many of whom were retired clergymen and not wealthy people.Mr Orange said: "If funding is withdrawn, as has been threatened, the college would cease to exist as an independent charity."Judge Richard Lowden, the Recorder of Durham, said the victim in this case was all too real, and not merely a financial institution, and that the total stolen was more than the college held in endowment from supporters."No doubt they (the benefactors) have been terribly, terribly hurt by this," he said."The breach of trust is gross."Starkey was previously convicted in 1985 of taking £10,000 from a Teesside car dealership where she worked.