Legal News

A bogus teacher who got two teaching jobs and a role in an examining board, using forged qualification certificates was jailed today.
Julia Rawlinson, 45, admitted she constructed sham of a life after almost a decade of lies which saw her get jobs of teacher in Northamptonshire and Devon as well as with Edexcel. She was described as a 'pathological liar' who concocted stories about her educational career and academic qualifications Exeter Crown Court heard.
Her sentencing was delayed by months as a psychiatric report was ordered which showed no evidence of mental illness.
Judge Philip Wassall said that it was only a ruse to avoid the consequences of what she had done. Jailing her for 18 months today, he said there was not a single word of regret or thought for the children who were at the wrong end of her activities. It is all inward looking. There was no mental illness involved, she was never mentally ill.
The mother of four, from Brixham in Devon, said she had advanced qualifications in sciences from universities in Glasgow and South Africa, where she was raised before moving to Britain. She used those qualifications, supported by fake certificates, to obtain her first teaching job, at Montagu School in Kettering in 2004.
But by 2007, she was already having her first brush with police when it transpired she had lied about the extent of her academic background.
Rawlinson was cautioned for the offence but had already taken on a role as an examiner with Edexcel, marking IGCSE papers in biology.
She was given a one year teaching contract at Westlands School in Torquay in 2011, where she was to lead A-Level students through their biology modules. But staff became suspicious when Rawlinson’s CRB check was returned just a few weeks into the job, revealing the police caution
Rawlinson was arrested, and forged documents originally downloaded from the internet were recovered by police.
She admitted two counts of false representation and three counts of making a false instrument when she appeared before magistrates in Devon in January this year.
Prosecuting, Joss Ticehurst said students had suffered as a result of her dishonesty. 'When interviewed by police in October 2011, she said her whole life had been a lie.
Defending, fraud solicitor said Rawlinson was 'a pathological liar', but said she was undergoing a psycho-therapeutic intervention programme, at her own personal expense.
He said that his client had had an 'awful childhood' growing up in South Africa, her four children were a credit to her, raising them while her husband worked away in Europe, the court heard. She lied to create a social standing for herself she wanted social gain and not financial gain he said.
Judge Wassall gave Rawlinson credit for her guilty plea, telling her she would likely serve half of the 18-month term before being released on licence.