A SCHOOL's parent teacher association treasurer who stole funds has been spared a prison sentence.

Judge Charles MacDonald QC told mother-of-two Madeline Stevenson that there were a number of exceptional circumstances, including her depressive mental state and her elder daughter’s ill health, that enabled him to suspend a jail term.

More importantly, he added, Stevenson was in a position to pay back the money she took from the PTA at Bean Primary School, near Dartford.

"All thefts involving a breach of trust are regarded by the courts as very serious and almost invariably involve custodial sentences," Judge MacDonald said.

"The offence was committed over a period of two-and-a-half years and involved planning, persistence and falsifying documents."

But Maidstone Crown Court heard that the money stolen was not spent on luxuries but private medical care for her daughter and "small treats".

Stevenson, 45, of Sayer Close, Greenhithe, near Dartford, admitted theft between February 2002 and July 2004. She also pleaded guilty to two charges of false accounting relating to figures in the treasurer’s report over the same period.

She altered the figures to show a balance of £2,730.69 when it was actually £64.65 and £2,547.29 when it was £34.61.

Stevenson was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, concurrent on each count, suspended for two years.

She was also ordered to repay £2,500 within 28 days and a further £5,500 within six months.

The court heard Stevenson became treasurer in 2000 and held the position until it was dissolved in 2003. Prosecutor Caroline Knight said that approximately £10,000 was held in various bank accounts.

"Repeated requests to the defendant to place these monies into the school’s accounts went unheeded," she said, "as did requests to attend face to face meetings at the school."

However, in 2004 Stevenson confessed on an ansaphone message at the home of the chair of the school governors that she had taken the money.

Miss Knight said the exact amount of money "proven" to have been stolen was £8,000.

Judith King, defending, said Stevenson stole the money at a time when difficulties in her life had "reached a peak".

The court heard that as well as her own depression and her daughter being diagnosed as suffering from lupus, she had also suffered the break-up of her marriage, the death of her father and financial pressures.

"She has expressed remorse and described what she did as disgusting and appalling, said Mrs King.

The court also heard that although she was arrested in September 2004, Stevenson was not charged for two years.

The money with which she is to repay the school has come from the sale of the former marital home. Stevenson must also pay £700 court costs.