Mother to face court on school admission fraud charge

Mrinal Patel, 41, applied for a place for her five-year-old son Rhys at Pinner Park First School in Harrow, north London.

She was charged with fraud by false representation and will appear at Harrow Magistrates' Court tomorrow after council officers found the address she used did not match council tax records.

David Ashton, leader of Harrow Council, said: "This kind of prosecution is very rare and something we have brought forward with great reluctance.

"Of course, we understand that parents feel very strongly about their first choice of school.

"However, our first duty is to ensure that the admissions system is scrupulously fair and seen to be so.

"The vast majority of parents who abide by the rules for admission need to know we will challenge any alleged attempt by others to bypass them."

Harrow Council received 2,800 applications for a reception class for five-year-olds across 35 schools in the borough in 2009/10, up from 2,550 the previous year when Mrs Patel applied.

In 2008/09, 411 applications expressed a preference for Pinner Park, with 90 places offered to children living closest to the school, measured in a straight line. The furthest was just 0.685 miles away.

Earlier this month Mrs Patel told reporters she was using her mother's address following difficulties with her husband, but had now moved back into the family home.

She added that she felt the charge was disproportionate and a waste of taxpayers' money.