THE treasurer for a parent teachers’ association is to appear in court accused of stealing almost £2,000 from school funds.

Police said Marie Janette Holmes – who also goes by her married name Janette Studholme – is alleged to have forged cheques to take cash from bank accounts linked to St Mary’s Roman Catholic Primary School, Oswaldtwistle, and its PTA.

Holmes, of Willows Lane, Accrington, was the school’s PTA treasurer when sums of money went missing between October 2007 and June 2008, police said.

Holmes was arrested on June 2 and has been charged with four counts of making false inst-ruments – in relation to forging cheques – and six counts of theft from an employee, totalling £1,714.26.

This included a sum of £455.27 from the PTA and other amounts ranging from £100 to £573.99, police said.

The 48-year-old has since been removed from the unpaid position on the PTA board. She will appear before Hyndburn Magistrates’ Court on June 17.

St Mary’s Roman Catholic Primary School’s deputy head teacher, Marie Leaver said: “Janet Studholme is no longer the treasurer of our parent teacher association.

“The PTA funds are most commonly used to help subsidise extra curriculuar activities for the pupils, paying for people to come in and run workshops or for sporting activities that take place outside of normal school hours or the normal classroom environment.

“The money is also used help fund school trips.”