A WOMAN abused her position on the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) of a prestigious York school to fraudulently obtain more than £35,000.

Jasbir Mander was treasurer of the PTA at St Olave's School in York when she forged the signatures of the headteacher and another PTA member to apply for a charge card.

Using this, she spent more than £20,000 on stock for her shop in Doncaster Road, Selby, between February 2013 and March 2014, York Crown Court heard yesterday (Wednesday, July 26).

The court heard the school first became aware of the fraud when it was contacted by York Racecourse demanding outstanding payment of £5,000 for hiring the venue for a school event. The PTA bank account, which should have been in credit by more than £6,800, was actually in the red.

Andy Falconer, headteacher at St Olave's, said he did not wish to comment on his signature being forged in the case, but said on behalf of the school: "We are pleased that this long running case involving a fraud against the PTA has come to a conclusion."

The court also heard Mander, 46, who lives above her shop, used the personal details of a friend and her own mother to set up an account with a wholesale cash and carry business, eventually running up more than £9,400 in unpaid bills with them, and used the same friend's details to apply for a payday loan now totalling more than £6,500.

Having known Mander for about seven years, the victim considered her a friend, and helped her to set up a 'PayPoint' at her shop, allowing customers to pay utility bills there. In doing so, she had given her personal and business bank details and an old utility bill because "she was someone she completely trusted", the court heard.

Mander had made several phone calls to the wholesaler and the loan company pretending to be her friend and her mother in attempts to put off action regarding unpaid bills, and later gave no comment in police interviews.

Kevin Blount, for Mander, said she had serious and ongoing psychological issues and had been having problems at home and with the business. Mr Blount said she has since been referred for help, and her friendship and position with the school were "obviously destroyed by what she'd done".

Sentencing, Judge Paul Batty QC told Mander the offence represented "a gross breach of trust", but "there was a certain inevitability" to her arrest.

He said: "The fact of the matter is the balloon only went up in this case when St Olave's school were being threatened with a county court judgement in respect of a bill to York Racecourse for a school or charity ball. Because of your dishonest activity that bill could not be paid in full.

"You were in a position of great trust at St Olave's, a very respected school in this city. You were trustee of the PTA, because it was believed you could be trusted with money, and other peoples' money. Nothing could be further from the truth, because what you did was not only in relation to the PTA but in relation to a lady who considered herself a friend of yours and grossly abused that friendship."

Mander was sentenced to two years in prison for each of the three fraud offences, to be served concurrently, and suspended for two years. She was also given a supervision requirement for 12 months, and will be assisted by the probation service.