A Bradford magistrate and charity director, who was convicted of defrauding Bradford Council, had suffered a “spectacular fall from grace,” a Court heard.

Salima Hafejee, 45, a JP in the city for ten years and awarded an OBE for her charity work, had been of exemplary good character before committing the fraud, Leeds Crown Court was told yesterday.

Her lawyer, Imran Khan, said she had worked with young people in the criminal justice system. “The irony is she is in the precise position she was preventing young people from getting into,” he said.

Mother-of-three Hafejee, of Whitechapel Road, Cleckheaton, was found guilty by a jury last month of one charge of fraud, but cleared of another charge of fraud and one of theft.

She was yesterday sentenced to 28 days’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months, and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work.

Judge Kershaw said there had been a gross breach of trust and the standing of charitable and voluntary work had been undermined. The judge said Hafejee’s OBE would be forfeited, with much of her public standing.

Outside court, Hafejee said: “I completely maintain my innocence. We will lodge an appeal on the conviction. I just want to get back to what I do best – working with the community and working with young people, which I am passionate about.”

A Lord Chancellor’s advisory committee will decide her future as a JP when all legal proceedings are concluded.

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