Mother who tried to beat school rules faces court

A mother was appearing in court today accused of faking her address in order to secure a place for her son at a popular London state school.

Mrinal Patel, 41, is believed to be the first person to be prosecuted in England over alleged address fraud and faces up to a year in jail or a £5,000 fine if convicted.

Mrs Patel was trying to get her son Rhys, five, into Pinner Park First School in Harrow, which received 430 applications for 90 places and is rated "outstanding" by Ofsted.

Her case comes as a Standard investigation reveals that almost 15,000 children - one fifth of applicants - were rejected by their chosen primary schools this year.

In the most popular areas, up to 30 per cent of families applying failed to win a place at their first-choice school for September, while 16 per cent were refused by all of their nominated schools.

Like many of London's most popular state primaries, Pinner Park allocates places to those children living closest to the school.

Harrow council defended its decision to prosecute Mrs Patel.

Council leader David Ashton 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."

Mrs Patel was due to appear at Harrow magistrates' court this afternoon.