The former headteacher and deputy head at a now closed south Warwickshire special needs school have both been banned from teaching after being caught in a £175,000 expenses scandal.

Separate professional conduct review panels found head Mike Turner and his deputy Simon Constantinou had breached professional standards for their conduct while at River House School in Henley-in-Arden.

Turner, now 70, was said by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) hearing not to have shown any remorse for his actions, which also saw him award a £180,000 IT contract to a company without asking the board of governors or holding a tendering process.

A report following the December hearing - which Turner did not attend - said he also employed more than one member of staff without justification and did not even advertise the role.

The panel also found multiple instances where he had not completed DBS checks for new members of staff - putting the children at risk.

Having been made headteacher of the school in June 2000 he then also took around £36,000 in payments for 'recruitment and retention' which he was not entitled to. He failed to notify the authorities he was still receiving the payments, and did not pay the money back when he said he would.

Turner, who retired in August 2015 shortly after questions began to be raised over the school's accounts - was also found to have helped Constantinou lease a car through Warwickshire County Council despite knowing the latter was not entitled to one.

The reports said this was to the value of £4,000.

"Mr Constantinou denied this car lease allegation," the report said. 

"He told the panel that he was very surprised about this allegation as he had been provided with a car lease for many years without any issues being raised."  

The headteacher also allowed around £21,000 in mileage expenses to be claimed by his deputy by authorising payments at a rate between £0.44 and £0.52 instead of the approved £0.11288.

Constantinou, also now 70 and retired, appeared at his hearing and admitted at his TRA hearing that he had claimed at a higher rate than appropriate.

The most damning part of the report said Turner authorised £174,419 in overtime payments to Constantinou over a long period of time.

The deputy, who denied the allegations, said he thought he was entitled to the payments - something the panel did not agree with.

Constantinou stated: "I was working these extra hours and I felt justified in claiming for them. 

"In effect, I had two jobs, one in the school and one leading off-site provision. 

"With my additional hours payments I felt I was earning an amount which was justified in terms of my work and responsibilities".

However, the report after his panel said: "The panel concluded that these activities were management/leadership activities which fell squarely under the role of a deputy headteacher and could not therefore be claimed as overtime." 

It added: "The panel found that there was insufficient evidence in support of the overtime claims made. 

"Simply stating the time spent was not enough detail. 

"The panel would have expected more information such as what, where, with whom and for how long the claims related, making specific reference to the learning activities."

Constantinou was briefly acting head of River House while Turner was absent, but then received a further £4,967 as an extra payment for this - even though he should not have done.

"The panel considered that the findings against Mr Turner were serious," the report following his hearing said. 

"The panel noted that there had been a significant amount of public money being diverted away from pupils that were deemed to be the most vulnerable. 

"Mr Turner was the Headteacher and should have prevented money being taken away from resources." 

It added: "The panel had not been provided with any evidence that he had made an exceptional contribution to the education profession. 

"The panel concluded that the other public interest factors outweighed any public interest in retaining Mr Turner in the profession."

Of Constantinou, the report after his panel said: "In terms of aggravating features of this case, the panel had in mind the significant amount of money that Mr Constantinou had benefited from during the period in question.

"The panel considered that this was in excess of £210,000. 

"This was not a one-off, the panel had made findings about a pattern of dishonest conduct over a number of years.

"The panel was not reassured that the conduct would not be repeated."

The panel met nearly 10 years after the issues were first reported to the TRA.

Turner has been banned from teaching with the opportunity to appeal the decision in five years.

Constantinou has been banned with the opportunity to appeal in four years.