Rajbinder Kaur, 55, former bank worker and founder of Sikh Youth UK (SYUK), has been jailed for two years and eight months after being convicted of money laundering and six counts of theft, amounting to £50,000, after abuse of charitable funds.

This followed her theft of donations from Sikh Youth UK (SYUK), an organisation she set up in 2016 to support victims of child abuse, but was refused charitable status.

Her younger brother Khaldip Singh Lehal, 44, has been given a four-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 80 hours of unpaid work.

SYUK received countless donations during fundraising events including a sponsored winter sleep out and a football tournament both in 2018.

Kaur would transfer funds from the SYUK bank to her own account and then pay off her personal debts and loans as well as sending money to others including family members.

Kaur had over 50 personal bank accounts in an attempt to make it as complicated as possible to follow the flow of stolen money.

Kaur and Lehal were also found guilty of knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information to the Charity Commission, in an attempt to cover up the theft.

The Coventry pair were initially arrested in July 2019 and subsequently charged in September 2019.

The trial at Birmingham Crown Court last year heard how Kaur and Lehal ran an organisation called Sikh Youth UK (SYUK) which was formed in 2016.

An application was made in 2016 to the Charity Commission for SYUK to become a registered charity but when the commission asked for further information about SYUK, the information was not given so the charity application was closed.

Superintendent Annie Miller, from West Midlands Police, said: ‘Kaur tried to portray herself as someone naïve about financial matters despite having worked in a bank.

‘SYUK was clearly a means to fund her lifestyle and pay her debts off, but in the simplest of terms Kaur was stealing large amounts of money that had been donated by local people for good causes.

‘This has been a very long and complex investigation into fraud, and we have worked closely with the Charity Commission to bring this pair to justice.’

It is a significant step for individuals to be convicted for providing the Charity Commission with false or misleading information, under section 60 of the Charities Act 2011.

Charity Commission deputy director for specialist investigations, Tim Hopkins, said: ‘We welcome the strong message that the theft of charity funds for personal gain will not be tolerated by the courts.

‘Both siblings’ criminal convictions for providing false or misleading information to the Charity Commission highlights how seriously the courts take the offence.

‘We have worked closely with the police on this case to make sure that these actions did not go unpunished.

‘In working together, the Commission and the police were able to effectively deliver justice, as well as uphold public trust in charitable giving.’