Girl Guide leaders swindled £450,000 from taxpayers using false Gift Aid claims

Crooked usher person Sara Barnbrook (Image: West Yorks Police)

A brace of sisters who utilized an elaborate swindle to con the payer retired of astir £450,000 portion moving Girl Guide groups person been jailed.

Sara Barnbrook, 54, and younger sibling Jean, 51, embarked connected a jet-set manner aft claiming Gift Aid donations for their web of groups.

The brace submitted £1.9million worthy of mendacious claims utilizing the names of volunteers, who had nary thought of the “sophisticated” scam.

Leeds Crown Court heard this enabled them to person £446,000 from the government's Gift Aid scheme, which allows charities to assertion an other 25% from the taxman, implicit six years.

They past abused their presumption arsenic signatories to transportation that wealth into their ain backstage slope accounts oregon withdrew it arsenic cash.

But they were rumbled erstwhile Jean Barnbrook called her slope to pursuit up a Gift Aid outgo for a Girl Guides radical which had been closed down 18 months earlier, sparking an HMRC investigation.

Conwoman Jean Barnbrook (Image: West Yorks Police)

The tribunal heard the crooked duo - who ran 2 Girl Guide groups and a Brownie radical - enjoyed luxury holidays and spent 1000 connected improvements to their Leeds home.

Sara Barnbrook was jailed for 3 years aft pleading blameworthy to cheating the nationalist revenue, whilst her sibling was jailed for 2 and a fractional years aft admitting wealth laundering.

Angus MacDonald, prosecuting, told however the the sisters made the fraudulent claims betwixt 2013 and 2019 earlier being caught.

Over £235,000 was paid into the Jean Barnbrook's relationship with astir £86,000 siphoned into Sara's, who was described arsenic “the driving force” down the scam.

A further £125,000 was cashed from fraudulent cheques.

Mr MacDonald said Sara Barnbrook spent £24,000 connected luxury items, £20,000 connected apparel and £20,000 connected leisure whilst Jean blew £67,000 connected luxury items, £40,000 connected location improvements and £30,000 connected edifice stays.

He said: “The fraud was truthful brazen that immoderate payments were sought aft applicable miss usher units had been unopen down.”

In mitigation the tribunal was told the sisters, who lived together, had grown up successful poorness astatine their household location and were saddled with inherited indebtedness aft their mother's death.

For decades volunteers person tally Girl Guide groups (Image: Getty)

Girl Guide laminitis Agnes Baden-Powell (Image: Getty)

Anastasis Tasou, defending Sara, said she started the scam “to bring her modular of surviving to that which astir of america instrumentality for granted.”

He told the tribunal she'd antecedently had fixed “30 years of devoted, voluntary service” to the Girl Guides.

Glenn Parsons, for Jean, said she was “totally babelike connected her sister” and was described by a science study arsenic being submissive and compliant.

Jailing them, Judge Mushtaq Khokhar said: “This was a fraud against the nationalist purse. People - specified arsenic yourselves - who perpetrate these offences bash truthful retired of greed.”

Tim Atkins from the HMRC's fraud probe service, said: “These sisters stole wealth that was expected to enactment genuine charities and they utilized it to money a manner they could not legitimately afford.

“Tax fraud is not a victimless crime. It has existent consequences for the nationalist services we each trust connected and we promote anyone with accusation astir immoderate benignant of taxation fraud oregon wealth laundering to study it online.”