A BANK account has been set up to help support a former Merseyside headteacher pay off a fine he incurred after a teenager fell through his school’s roof.

The campaign was launched in support of John Summerfield, who was the head at Sacred Heart Catholic College, in Crosby, until the summer, when it emerged he faced spiralling debts.

The £20,000 fine and £22,000 legal costs were imposed by a court after the 64-year-old was found guilty earlier this year for failing to take reasonable care for the safety of his students after a pupil fell through a skylight.

Joel Murray, then 18, tumbled 8ft and fractured his skull.

Mr Summerfield also has to pay a share of around one-third of £42,000 of unpaid rent from when he was a trustee of St Mary’s Old Boys Club, in Moor Lane, Crosby.

He claims he was an innocent victim of the unpaid rent issue because he left the club in 2004, a year after a five-year lease was signed. Fundraisers have set a target to raise £40,000 by April, to help settle the court fine.

They said they want to “alleviate some of the stress” Mr Summerfield and his family are suffering.