This is the bursar who stole more than £200,000 from the primary school where she worked.

Sandra Ross is pictured as she walked into Maidstone Crown Court to be sentenced.

The court heard she systematically stole £212,000 from the funds of Temple Mill Primary, Strood, in five years.

She was jailed for three years by Judge Jeremy Carey, who told her she was “extremely dishonest”.

Ross used £74,658 from funds from the school in Strood to pay for care for her late mother.

Thousands of pounds were transferred into her own account and a deposit was put down on a £45,000 Mercedes.

Judge Carey told the 64-year-old grandmother: “The bottom line is you were a thief.

“You were portrayed as an honest person when the reality is you were nothing of the kind.

“You were extremely dishonest and behaved dishonourably to the very people you were employed to protect.

“There was some greed and you need to come to terms with that, because you didn’t need to take this money.”

Ross, of Stone Croft, Meopham, admitted 23 offences of fraud.

She has paid back £41,656 and Maidstone Crown Court heard she and her husband had enough assets to repay the remainder of the money she took.

Ross joined Temple Mill in Cliffe Road when in 2001 as a secretary and was promoted to finance manager in April 2005.

Prosecutor Edmund Burge said: “She was able to obtain such a large amount of money because of the trust placed in her by the head teacher who had known her for many years.”

Ross was exposed after Medway Education Finance Department noticed suspicious transactions in the school’s bank accounts.

Medway Council say measures are in place to ensure staff and governors stay in control of finances at schools.

A spokesman said: "Measures to ensure all governing bodies and senior staff have proper oversight of the school's financial system are in place, with three different forms of financial training on offer to all governors throughout the school year.”

When confronted, Ross admitted to head teacher Jane Bright she had been using the school’s money to pay for her mother’s residential care.

But she also used it to pay council tax on a holiday home on the Isle of Wight, and to refurbish her mother’s home after she went into care. Other money went on furniture, clothes, a computer and groceries.

Valerie Charbit, for Ross, said she felt “totally ashamed”.

The judge made a compensation order for Ross to pay the £171,000 owing to the school within six months or face a further two-and-a-half years in jail in default.

After sentencing, DC Kim Jordan, from Kent Police, said: “She deprived Temple Mill Primary School and its pupils of much-needed funds and every effort will now be made to reclaim the outstanding money.”

A Medway Council spokesman said as soon as the allegations came to light, Ross was suspended from her post and subsequently dismissed at the end of March last year.