Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    • Home
    • About Us
    • Digital Subscription
    • Advertisement
    • Contact Us
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    The Tennessee TribuneThe Tennessee Tribune
    Advertise With Us
    • Home
      • COVID-19 Resource Center
        • Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ PSA Radio
      • Featured
    • News
      • State
      • Local
      • National/International News
      • Global
      • Business
        • Commentary
        • Finance
        • Local Business
      • Investigative Stories
        • Affordable Housing
        • DCS Investigation
        • Gentrification
    • Editorial
      • National Politics
      • Local News
      • Local Editorial
      • Political Editorial
      • Editorial Cartoons
      • Cycle of Shame
    • Community
      • History
      • Tennessee
        • Chattanooga
        • Clarksville
        • Knoxville
        • Memphis
      • Public Notices
      • Women
        • Let’s Talk with Ms. June
    • Education
      • College
        • American Baptist College
        • Belmont University
        • Fisk
        • HBCU
        • Meharry
        • MTSU
        • University of Tennessee
        • TSU
        • Vanderbilt
      • Elementary
      • High School
    • Lifestyle
      • Art
      • Auto
      • Tribune Travel
      • Entertainment
        • 5 Questions With
        • Books
        • Events
        • Film Review
        • Local Entertainment
      • Family
      • Food
        • Drinks
      • Health & Wellness
      • Home & Garden
      • Featured Books
    • Religion
      • National Religion
      • Local Religion
      • Obituaries
        • National Obituaries
        • Local Obituaries
      • Faith Commentary
    • Sports
      • MLB
        • Sounds
      • NBA
      • NCAA
      • NFL
        • Predators
        • Titans
      • NHL
      • Other Sports
      • Golf
      • Professional Sports
      • Sports Commentary
      • Metro Sports
    • Media
      • Video
      • Photo Galleries
      • Take 10
      • Trending With The Tribune
    • Classified
    • Obituaries
      • Local Obituaries
      • National Obituaries
    The Tennessee TribuneThe Tennessee Tribune
    National/International News

    Australian Headmaster Who Faked His CV Spared Jail

    zenger.newsBy zenger.newsMarch 23, 2021No Comments3 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Telegram Pinterest Tumblr Reddit Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email
    Advertisement

    VICTORIA, Australia — A former and much-lauded headmaster who lied about his qualifications and faked his way through a 24-year teaching career has been spared jail.

    Neil Lennie dropped out of university and used his father’s legitimate teacher registration in Victoria between 1976 and 2000.

    He taught at Victoria’s Mount Scopus Memorial College, Haileybury College, and Overnewton Anglican Community College.

    Lennie also spent six years as a headmaster at Caulfield Grammar School through the 1980s and 1990s.

    The 73-year-old was spared jail in Victoria’s County on Thursday after he admitted obtaining AUD 1088455 ($843,567) in remuneration by deception.

    Instead, he was handed a suspended three-month sentence and year-long community correction order.

    Judge Patrica Riddell said Lennie’s case was unique among fraud cases.

    While his lies were premeditated, deliberate, and rather brazen, Judge Riddell said Lennie caused no harm to and, in fact, greatly enriched the schools at which he taught.

    Neil Lennie departs the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Wednesday, March 3, 2021. A former school headmaster who faked his way through a 24-year teaching career has pleaded guilty to fraud charges in Victoria. (AAP Image/Erik Anderson)

    Former students “speak of you with one voice as one of the most outstanding and influential teachers they were fortunate to have”, the judge said.

    She rejected the prosecutor’s arguments Lennie was motivated by personal benefit, ego, or beating other teachers to jobs.

    “You did see teaching as a vocation, a calling,” said Judge Riddell. “COVID-19 showed the hard work of teachers had long been undervalued. It would be difficult to find any teacher who enters that position because of greed.”

    One of Lennie’s students from Mount Scopus became a leading infectious diseases expert and an inaugural director at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity.

    “I often credit Mr. Lennie with my enduring love of science, the pursuit of academic excellence, and self-belief in my own capabilities in science,” Professor Sharon Lewin AO wrote in a letter to the court. “I remember him very clearly telling me that I was capable of doing anything in life and to shoot for the stars.

    “As a young woman in the 1970s, I now understand that this kind of encouragement for women in science was most unusual.”

    Judge Riddell noted none of Lennie’s employers sought to verify his qualifications.

    His registration was canceled in 2009 after the Victorian Institute of Teaching discovered discrepancies in his records.

    Neil Lennie departs the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Wednesday, March 3, 2021. A former school headmaster who faked his way through a 24-year teaching career has pleaded guilty to fraud charges in Victoria. (AAP Image/Erik Anderson)

    The institute in 2014 charged him over another role as headmaster at a different school, again without qualification.

    He was fined AUD 10322 ($8000) and in 2015 referred to police for possible criminal charges, which were laid in May 2020.

    Judge Riddell said there had been almost no attempt to explain the lengthy delay by authorities.

    She also cited intense media scrutiny on Lennie’s case, and the public disgrace and scorn suffered.

    (Edited by Sid Roy and Saptak Datta)



    The post Australian Headmaster Who Faked His CV Spared Jail appeared first on Zenger News.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    zenger.news
    • Website

    Related Posts

    Assata Shakur, Black liberation activist who escaped U.S. prison, dies in Havana at 78

    September 27, 2025

    Delta State University Student Found Hanging on Campus

    September 16, 2025

    MAGA Billboard in Montgomery, Alabama Sparks Outrage with Racist Imagery

    September 9, 2025

    The Game: What Black City Gets the National Guard

    September 9, 2025

    Community Invited to Join Tours of the Obama Presidential Center

    August 24, 2025

    Black Church and Black Press Unite to Empower Black America

    July 26, 2025

    Comments are closed.

    Advertisement
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZODr-6rxyI
    Business

    Zeta Phi Beta sorority announces $750,000 pledge to St. Jude Children’s Hospital

    September 26, 2025

    FUNdraising Good Times Is management a bad word?

    September 26, 2025

    Black-owned Jam Vino showcases wine-infused jam at GBK’s pre-Emmys gifting lounge, sets Walmart retail debut

    September 20, 2025
    1 2 3 … 388 Next
    Education
    Education

    LeMoyne-Owen College to Benefit from MacKenzie Scott’s Landmark $70 Million Gift to UNCF

    By adminSeptember 26, 2025

    MEMPHIS, TENN. — LeMoyne-Owen College, a proud member of UNCF (United Negro College Fund), announced that…

    Austin Peay student researches solar wind mysteries at Harvard

    September 26, 2025

    Group removed from TSU campus after unauthorized demonstration

    September 26, 2025

    Another Request for HBCUs Security

    September 18, 2025
    The Tennessee Tribune
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    • About Us
    • Digital Subscription
    • Store
    • Advertise With Us
    • Contact
    © 2025 The Tennessee Tribune - Site Designed by No Regret Media.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Our Spring Sale Has Started

    You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/