A WOMAN who forged exam certificates while working for North Yorkshire Police has been sentenced at York Magistrates Court.

Yvonne Webb, 44, increased the grade on the certificates that she prepared using editing software.

She carried out the forgery between October and December 2020 on behalf of another woman who needed the documents for employment purposes.

She claimed the original correct certificates had been lost and then replaced them with her copies with the inflated grades.

Webb, of Gallows Lane, Norby, near Thirsk, resigned from her staff job at North Yorkshire Police on the day she entered her guilty plea to making a false instrument under the forgery and counterfeiting act 1981.

She had been suspended from work since her arrest on October 21 last year.

She was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay a £190 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “We expect the highest standards of all staff and officers and Webb’s actions fall well below those standards.

“Webb played a key role in defrauding an organisation by creating fake certificates when new copies could have been obtained legitimately.

“Not only that, but she falsely listed the individual’s exam results as higher than they actually were, further misleading their employer.

“Her fine reflects the severity of the offence.”