A PE teacher who tried to claim nearly £50,000 in insurance over a fake burglary has been banned from teaching after hiding the conviction from her school. Dipti Patel, who taught PE at Manchester Academy, in Moss Side, made the ‘entirely fraudulent’ insurance claim after reporting a ‘contrived burglary’ at her family home, a professional conduct panel heard.
She was convicted of the offence at St Albans Crown Court in September 2020 and handed a nine-month suspended prison sentence - as well as being ordered to carry out 120 hours unpaid work and 10 rehabilitation activity days. The 37-year-old had pleaded guilty on the basis that she did not know of the contrived burglary and played no part in it - her role in the fraud was 'exaggerating the claim', something she ‘regretted’.
Mrs Patel disclosed her guilty plea to the school soon after, but had taken leave for the court appearance on the pretext it was to take her child to a medical appointment. She also failed to notify the school after she was interviewed under police caution in October 2019 and appeared at a magistrates court in August 2020.
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Moreover, Mrs Patel signed annual safeguarding documentation knowing that she was facing criminal charges and had failed to disclose them. Manchester Academy says it suspended Mrs Patel as soon as it was made aware of the situation.
A Teaching Regulation Agency report reads: “Mrs Patel’s dishonest actions were planned and happened on multiple occasions in providing continued dishonest representations about the burglary to the insurance company, the insurer’s investigators and the police.
“Mrs Patel’s culpability was further amplified by her persistent dishonesty in concealing this information from the Academy, until the last possible moment. These factors meant when considering Mrs Patel’s actions on the spectrum of dishonesty, it could only be at the higher end of that spectrum.”
The panel was satisfied ‘the ordinary decent person would consider her actions as dishonest and her failure to notify her employer was ‘ namely done to hide any knowledge of the potential conviction, her shame and her worries about losing her job and ongoing ability to support her family’.
Mrs Patel took up a position as head of PE at Manchester Academy in December 2018.
Having spent around 10 year working at a school in London, Mrs Patel moved to Bolton, due to ‘personal family issues’ - which were in part connected to an armed burglary at the previous family home. The fraudulent claim was also connected to this address.
The panel accepted that Mrs Patel had ‘found herself in extremely difficult personal circumstances’ and had ‘demonstrated genuine regret and remorse’ during the hearing. However it found these ‘could not sufficiently diminish the seriousness of the dishonesty element’ in the case.
The panel also found that Mrs Patel ‘still had much to offer the teaching profession’, having heard ‘ from a number of character witnesses ranging from junior teachers to those in senior leadership positions.
All spoke of Mrs Patel’s strong abilities as a PE teacher, while some commented ‘very positively of her abilities as a middle leader.
“They spoke highly of her dedication to pupils, her drive to engage all pupils in the subject, particularly those who might not ordinarily engage, and they highlighted the many pupils and colleagues who looked up to Mrs Patel,” the report adds.
Patel was convicted at St Albans Crown Court, in September 2020, of the offence of ‘Dishonestly make false representation to make gain for self/another or cause loss to other/expose other to risk’.
A spokesperson for Manchester Academy said: “As soon as we were made aware of this, the individual was suspended and now no longer works at the school.”
Mrs Patel can apply for the prohibition order to be reviewed, but not until May 23, 2025 at the earliest. However, this is not an automatic right and if she does apply, a panel will meet to consider whether the prohibition order should be set aside. Without a successful application, Mrs Patel remains banned from teaching indefinitely.
The hearing took place on May 12 and the decision was taken on behalf of the Secretary or State.
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