Defendant able to prove innocence

A head teacher in Middlesbrough was found not guilty of fraud by abuse of position earlier this month after being charged with the theft of Apple computers, including multiple iPads and other IT equipment.

Darren Gamble was accused by prosecutors of spending £12,775.84 of the primary school’s budget on equipment they claimed was actually for his own use or to sell on.

They cited 68 transactions in the purchase of IT equipment made by the school’s credit card or via their Amazon account between February 2018 and January 2022.

However, Mr Gamble had always insisted that he had taken boxes of iPads home in the 2021 summer holidays to help the school’s IT technician set them up ahead of the return to school in September.

While it later emerged that seven of the iPads had gone missing, Mr Gamble said he assumed his family had thrown them out by mistake during a clear out of the family’s garage.

He then took steps to replace the iPads by buying second-hand ones, as he said that he could not afford to buy new ones.

Mr Gamble’s barrister explained his action in taking the IT equipment home, describing him as a “hands-on leader”, who only took items home to work on in the holidays, as he was too busy during term time.

Roger Isaacs, National Technical Director of NIFA, says that there are parallels between this case and those of over 500 former subpostmasters and subpostmistresses, for whom he acts and who are victims of the Post Office Horizon Scandal.  Just like Mr Gamble they were wrongly accused of theft.

He comments, “one of the many shocking aspects to the Post Office Scandal is that investigators never questioned the absence of any evidence to suggest that those accused had in any way benefitted from their alleged thefts.  There was never any evidence that those accused of stealing large sums of money were living lavish lifestyles or funding addictions.

“Similarly it appears that the prosecution was unable to show that Mr Gamble had benefitted financially from the loss of the IT equipment, which may well have been one of the reasons that he was acquitted.”

Source: Teesside Live