A FORMER Selby playgroup treasurer has been jailed for stealing more than £10,000 from the group's funds.

Susan Rawnsley, who has two children aged nine and five, will now spend Christmas behind bars after being sentenced to three months in custody.

Rawnsley, 36, siphoned off an average of £540 a month over an 18-month period from Hambleton Playgroup's bank account while she was treasurer.

York Crown Court heard that she conned the group's chairwoman, Dawn Rock, into signing blank cheques - and then implicated Miss Rock.

Today, Miss Rock told the Evening Press that she would like to thank everyone who had supported her during a "very stressful" two years.

She said: "I was a nervous wreck. Without the help and support of Selby CID I wouldn't have got through it. I'm just pleased it is now at an end and that life can return to some normality."

Hambleton Playgroup committee members also released a statement, saying they were pleased to be vindicated.

They said the playgroup had stayed open despite the loss of funds.

The statement added: "We would like to thank the police, especially detective constables John Brook and Pete Masterman, for their hard work and support."

Rawnsley, of Main Road, Hambleton, admitted stealing £10,290 from the playgroup between June, 1999, and December, 2000.

The court heard that she opened a bank account in Selby, in her maiden name of Susan Hinchcliffe.

She then used the "clandestine" account to launder the money she systematically stole.

Rawnsley also admitted two unrelated charges of obtaining services by deception.

Richard Maxwell, for Rawnsley, said: "She bitterly regrets this - not because she has been found out but because she has betrayed those who trusted her.

"Her husband suffers from a back injury and she is the sole breadwinner."

Judge Scott ordered Rawnsley to repay the money she had stolen from the playgroup.

Updated: 15:49 Friday, November 22, 2002