Teacher given suspended sentence after series of lies

A primary school teacher who told a series of lies and was granted paid leave from work has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Cardiff Crown Court heard 31-year-old Kelly Baker, of Maesycwmmer, near Caerphilly, claimed a relative was suffering from cancer.

Using forged medical documents she also faked health problems of her own, including post-viral fatigue and broken bones.

In what was described as a ‘strange and very unusual case’, Baker’s story about her ‘cancer-stricken’ relative unravelled when her headteacher delivered a get-well card to the hospital – to be told the ‘patient’ was not there.

Baker then claimed the relative had to be transferred to another hospital in Cardiff, but when the head contacted staff there no patient of that name had been admitted. It later transpired that the relative had been perfectly well all along.

The court heard Baker had caused an estimated loss of £100,000 to Cwmcarn Primary School, including her wage and the cost of supply teachers to cover her absence.

In addition it emerged she had forged one of her references to get her job at the school in the first place.

The court was told Baker's personal problems had led to her creating a world where she couldn't separate fantasy from reality.

But Judge William Gaskell told her she was ‘clearly a very disturbed lady’ whose deceit was ‘appalling’.

Baker admitted two counts of fraud and was given a six-month suspended sentence, an 18-month supervision order and 240 hours of unpaid work.