A BRADFORD childminder who accepted money to care for a little boy after she was suspended by Ofsted has lost her appeal against a court conviction.

Mother-of-four Farzana Bi was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £1,160 after a judge and two magistrates said she had been "caught out" by the child's day nursery when her husband arrived to collect the toddler.

Bi, 36, of Maidstone Street, Bradford Moor, Bradford, was a registered child minder looking after two little boys when she was suspended after an "incident" at the White Rose Shopping Centre, Leeds, on March 1 last year.

Although no police action was taken, she was barred by Ofsted from accepting money to care for children at her home.

Bi was convicted at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates Court of continuing to act as a child minder after the suspension.

She was fined £120 and ordered to pay £120 costs and a £20 surcharge.

Yesterday, she lost her appeal against the conviction at Bradford Crown Court. The fine and costs were implemented, along with a £900 bill for the appeal.

Bi, a volunteer worker with the Restorative Justice Programme, said she carried on caring for her friend's son for a couple of weeks because his mother wept and begged her.

She continued to collect the child from nursery two days a week, and to care for him for three hours on those afternoons, because he was a fussy eater and his mother trusted her to feed him properly.

Bi told the court she was shocked and very disappointed when she was suspended.

She had been a registered child minder since July, 2011.

She stopped caring for one little boy immediately but the mother of the second child, a close friend, pleaded with her to continue until a suitable new child minder was found.

Bi said she had been paid in advance to look after the two-year-old, and her friend refused to take back the £280 cash.

"As a matter of friendship, and as a mum, I agreed to do it," she said.

Ofsted regulator Ann Law told the court she made Bi fully aware of the suspension and the implications of flouting it.

Emma Downing, Bi's barrister, said it was a short-term favour for a friend who cried when she was told she had just two days to find replacement childcare.

Bi was doing "a favour to a 'sister'." She handed back the advance payment but her friend refused to accept it.

Rejecting the appeal, The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, said: "This was a fairly blatant attempt by this lady to continue acting as a child minder, despite her suspension, until she was caught out by the nursery."