School's money man sentenced

James Branton pleaded guilty in the Hamilton District Court to five dishonesty charges. Photo / Christine Cornege

A former finance officer who raised allegations of inappropriate spending at Hamilton's Fraser High School says the ordeal cost him his marriage, caused depression and affected his job prospects.

James Robert Branton was on Friday sentenced to 265 hours of community work and ordered to pay $4500 in reparation on four charges of dishonestly using a document and two of false accounting.

He had been the school's financial controller but went to investigators with claims against former principal Martin Elliott, 58, who is facing trial on 65 charges of fraud and dishonesty.

Branton said the case against him centred on him naively and inappropriately giving a payment to a staff member, paying off a school debt inappropriately and "meddling with an invoice", allegedly at someone else's request. He did not benefit financially.

He said it had contributed to the breakdown of his 34-year marriage, caused him to suffer depression and affected his job prospects. "The emotional toll has been huge," he said.