Former North Yorkshire Police staff member pleads guilty to forgery

44 year-old Yvonne Webb of Gallows Lane, Norby, was last week (8 September 2022) fined £2,000 at York Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to an offence under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981.

At the time of the offence, Webb was a serving North Yorkshire Police staff member and at the time of her arrest on 21 October 2021, she was suspended from duty. Webb resigned from her role yesterday (8 September 2022) with immediate effect.

During October to December 2020, Webb used editing software to forge education qualification certificates for an individual who required them for employment purposes.

Webb claimed the original certificates had been lost but as well as fraudulently recreating them, she also falsely elevated the results so they were shown higher than those the individual had actually achieved.

Webb pleaded guilty to making a false instrument with intent it be accepted as genuine. She was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £190, plus £85 in costs.

North Yorkshire Police Superintendent Jo Brooksbank said:

“We expect the highest standards of all staff and officers and Webb’s actions fall well below those standards.

“Webb played a key role in defrauding an organisation by creating fake certificates when new copies could have been obtained legitimately.

“Not only that, but she falsely listed the individual’s exam results as higher than they actually were, further misleading their employer.

“Her fine reflects the severity of the offence.”