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Top headteacher held over £500,000 Cuba trip expenses
Robert Mendick29 Jun 2009
One of London's leading headteachers has been arrested over allegations of a £500,000 expenses fraud linked to a Cuban exchange programme.
Paul Patrick, 53, has been suspended from the Cardinal Wiseman School in Greenford for "possible administrative irregularities".
Police from the fraud squad arrested him at the penthouse apartment in north London where he lives with his family. He vehemently denies any wrongdoing.
The investigation is understood to be looking into school exchange trips to Cuba arranged by Mr Patrick, who has been credited by Ofsted with turning the Roman Catholic school into one of London's highest-achieving over his 12 years in charge.
The headteacher recently returned to Britain from a sabbatical in Havana, where he worked in a school.
An Ealing council source said: "We are being told that large sums of money are believed to be involved, not just trivial amounts."
Another close to the school claimed: "The sum is around half a million pounds. He is being looked at for buying smart Armani-type suits, even people carriers, off-road vehicles and first-class flights to Cuba."
Mr Patrick is a member of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, a British group "for the defence of Cuba and its peoples' right to self-determination and national sovereignty".
In 2003 he wrote in the campaign's journal Cuba Si of his fact-finding mission to Havana to set up the school exchange programme.
Rob Miller, director of the CSC, said: "This is the first I have heard of him being suspended. He has always come across as a very good headteacher and a very good person who wants to make successful international links."
A Met spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that officers from the Met's fraud squad arrested a 53-year-old man at his home address in Southgate on suspicion of expense fraud.
He was taken to a west London police station and bailed to return pending further inquiries to a date in June."
Parents were told about Mr Patrick's suspension by letter and pupils at the technology and humanities college were informed at assembly.
Cardinal Wiseman School's chairwoman of governors, Maggie Pound, said: "I can confirm that headteacher Paul Patrick has been suspended.
"An investigation is being conducted into possible administrative irregularities.
"Suspension is a neutral act and is often undertaken where investigations of this nature are being made. No irregularities have been identified in connection with admission arrangements."
In its last Ofsted inspection the school was rated "outstanding".
Inspectors concluded: "The headteacher provides the pivotal focus for the school's vision which has led to continued and sustained improvement. The headteacher has a relentless ambition and drive to improve the achievement of all pupils."
Mr Patrick developed educational links with Cuba in 2003 after visiting a high school there. He set up programmes which saw the Spanish, art and music departments enjoying links with Havana schools and institutions.
Cardinal Wiseman's prospectus says that each year music pupils travel to the Escuela Nacional De Musica to play and in return Cuban pupils visit the UK. There are also links to the Enrique Galarraga school in Havana.
The trips were understood to be funded through government grants and parental contributions.
Mr Patrick's plan included allowing his staff to learn Spanish at the university of Havana.
He urged other London schools to contact him and added: "The potential benefits are enormous...this is a productive way to show solidarity with the Cuban people."
In 2006, according to Companies House records, he set up Havana Experience Limited, a tourism and travel company based in Surrey, which has never traded.
An application was made last month to have the company voluntarily struck off the Companies House register.
One parent said: "He's been an amazing headteacher, I wouldn't have sent my children to the school if he hadn't come along. He has been inspiring."
Mr Patrick, who lives with his wife Denise, 53, a primary school head-teacher, refused to comment.
