Devon school loses £300,000 in phone scam

A school in Devon has lost £300,000 of public money after being caught out by a phone scam.

Clyst Vale Community College in Broadclyst near Exeter said it was conned last year by someone pretending to be a contractor changing bank details.

The matter has been referred to a national fraud investigating team.

The principal of Clyst Vale Community College says the academy is a "victim of a sophisticated financial theft towards the completion of a construction project to build a new classroom block.... No one at the college is implicated".