Investigation launched into Leeds City Council cash given to convicted Girl Guides fraudster
A full audit is to be made by Leeds City Council into money handed to a convicted fraudster.
Councillor Mark Dobson pressured the council into investigating donations made to disgraced Girl Guides leader Jean Barnbrook over the years, which the council has since agreed to do.
The 51-year-old was recently jailed, along with her sister Sara, for conning almost £500,000 of taxpayers’ money through a Gift Aid scam while running troops in the east Leeds area.
She has now been stripped of the two Leeds City Council volunteer awards she received in recent years.
Coun Dobson, whose ward covers Garforth and Swillington, now wants every penny “accounted for” from donations the council made towards youth groups run by Barnbrook.
Coun Dobson said: “I am also still progressing a series of questions with the local authority to ensure that any public money that was granted to this person’s organisations has been properly audited and accounted for.”
Regarding the awards, he added: “Leeds is incredibly fortunate in having a whole range of volunteers in many areas who devote their time, free of charge, to helping others and it is right that the city recognises their efforts.
“To have allowed Barnbrook to have retained her awards would have been a slap in the face for all those individuals who have genuinely made a difference in our city.
“It is entirely right that the council have acted on my lobbying, since her imprisonment, to remove civic awards given to a totally unsuitable individual.”
In response, a spokesman for Leeds City Council said: “With regards to funding which may have been given to groups with which Jean Barnbrook was affiliated in a voluntary capacity, we have engaged colleagues from audit to perform appropriate checks to ensure that funding was allocated and spent appropriately.
“The audit process remains ongoing, and we will ensure any necessary actions are taken following its conclusion.
“In light of recent events, the council has made the decision to revoke the Compassionate City Award and the Highly Commended Award previously presented to Jean Barnbrook as the actions of this individual do not reflect the spirit of the awards.”
The Barnbrook sisters, of Laurel Terrace, Leeds, ran three units of Girl Guides and Brownies in the Cross Gates area.
Between 2013 and 2019 they falsely declared that parents had generously donated almost £2 million, and as a result they received the £482,294 in Gift Aid - a scheme that allows charities to claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated by a taxpayer.
They then siphoned the cash into their own accounts and splashed out on luxury items, hotels, clothing, travel, home improvements and paying off personal loans.
Sara Barnbrook, 54, was jailed for three years and Jean was jailed for 30 months.