A finance officer at Haringey Council has been jailed for defrauding the council out of nearly £500,000.

Ceyda Elkatme, 35, has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for her part in a fraud and money laundering scam.

Ms Elkatme, who was working for the council as a contracted finance officer at the time, made fraudulent payments to seven accomplices for bogus adult care services.

Ms Elkatme was arrested after the council reported the suspect payments to the police following an internal audit and investigation.

Haringey Borough superintendent Amanda Dellar said: ‘This was a despicable crime where Elkatme abused her position as a finance officer to defraud Haringey Council out of well over £450,000 of what was effectively public money.

‘Working with her husband and accomplices, they set out to launder hundreds of thousands of pounds between them - money which should have been paid to people providing essential care services for vulnerable adults in the borough.’