A PRIMARY school headteacher has appeared in court over claims he fraudulently claimed nearly £20,000.

Former headteacher Simon Burrell has been released on bail after appearing before a judge charged with fraud.

Burrell is said to have pocketed nearly £20,000 by deception between the start of January, 2011, and the end of May, 2013.

The 41-year-old, who was head of Ruskin County Junior School, in Stratton, is also accused of forging signatures on claim forms handed to Swindon Borough Council.

No charges were formally put to Burrell and he did not enter any pleas during the brief hearing at Swindon Crown Court yesterday.

He appeared before a judge facing three counts of fraud and one of forgery.

It is said that during the period of two years and five months he made false claims to governors of the school for overtime and for hours carrying out one-to-one teaching.

The third charge relates to him receiving £19,697.34 through fraud during the same time frame, also for one-to-one tutoring.

The charge of forgery alleges that he falsified signatures on claim forms handed to Swindon Borough Council, authorising payments.

Recorder Maria Lamb adjourned the case to Friday, October 23, and released Burrell, of Rawdon Way, Faringdon, on conditional bail until then.

She told him he must not go to the school or contact witnesses in the case.

Burrell left the school in Wordsworth Drive last summer to become headteacher at the Grange Federation, which includes Grange infant and junior schools.

In January, as police investigations continued, he was suspended from his duties at the Grange Federation in before being charged with the offences on June 8.