A pair of sisters have been jailed for a combined five-and-a-half years for fraudulently claiming almost £500,000 in Gift Aid. 

Sara and Jean Barnbrook, 54 and 51 respectively, admitted stealing the money over a six-year period as Girlguiding volunteers.

The sisters, of central Leeds, used the identities of other volunteers to sign off cheques and transferred the money to their personal accounts.

Sara Barnbrook submitted false Gift Aid claims totalling more than £482,000 between 2013 and 2019, of which around £446,000 was paid out.

She pleaded guilty to one charge of cheating the public purse and Jean Barnbrook pleaded guilty to one charge of money laundering.

The sisters spent around £90,000 on luxury items, nearly £50,000 on clothes and nearly £70,000 on loan repayments, the court confirmed. 

At Leeds Crown Court yesterday, Sara Barnbrook was sentenced to three years in prison while Jean Barnbrook was jailed for 30 months.

Tim Atkins, operational lead for the fraud investigation service at HM Revenue & Customs, said: “These sisters stole money that was supposed to support genuine charities and they used it to fund a lifestyle they could not legitimately afford.

“They used their position of trust to forge claims, and I hope these sentences serve as a warning to others that we can and do investigate abuse of the Gift Aid system. We will now work to recover the stolen proceeds of crime.

“Tax fraud is not a victimless crime. It has real consequences for the public services we all rely on and we encourage anyone with information about any type of tax fraud or money laundering to report it online.”

A Girlguiding spokesperson said no charity funds or members were affected. “The individuals sentenced have not been part of Girlguiding since 2018," the spokesperson said. "This is an isolated case that involved fraudulent activity with public money.

"We expect our dedicated 80,000 volunteers to commit to our code of conduct and follow robust training, policies and procedures to make sure that girls can have great experiences.”