A woman who defrauded three organisations, including a charity, for tens of thousands of pounds in the space of just three years, has been jailed.
Karen Muhammad, 52, of Windmill Road, Slough, was sentenced to three years in prison for fraud and theft offences.
She was chosen to chair the Chalvey Partnership charity when it was founded with the aim of working with residents to identify community projects that would benefit the area.
One of her proposals required funding from Slough Borough Council for new gym equipment that was never actually purchased.
Muhammad also received money from the council directly in to her personal account for a street party that never happened.
At trial, Muhammad claimed she had been using the money to pay off her own debts to the maintenance company Metro Management Co. Limited, where she was formerly director and chairman, when in fact she was defrauding them too. The company dissolved in 2014.
It emerged that she had diverted funds running to tens of thousands of pounds from the Chalvey Partnership and Metro Management, and also defrauded the council itself by claiming thousands of pounds in benefits.
Muhammad was sentenced on Thursday December 15 at Reading Crown Court after pleading guilty to four counts of fraud and not guilty to two counts of theft.
After a four day trial she was found guilty of the theft charges.
