A mother who stole more than $40,000 from the Gilbert Institute after-school programme and forged cheques drawn on its account has been jailed for three years.

Lee Brown protested her innocence and pretended someone forged her signature during her trial for the crimes, which left the programme so out of pocket that staff went unpaid.

However, in a dramatic u-turn after she was convicted by a jury in June, Brown admitted both to her guilt and to a substance abuse problem that she blamed for her actions.

Jailing her yesterday, Puisne Justice Charles-Etta Simmons said the Canadian national and mother-of-one undermined the trust of her colleagues and refused to help the Police.

"You told bold-faced lies when you came to court when you were very aware that a guilty plea would have resulted in a lesser sentence," she told her.

Mrs. Justice Simmons noted a pre-sentence report which said Brown has "personal problems" she must work on. She therefore asked the prison service to ensure she receives substance abuse treatment including treatment for alcoholism, plus psychological counselling.

Meting out three years imprisonment on each of eight counts to run concurrently, the judge added: "These offences are becoming quite prevalent in the community and must be deterred."

Brown's son, now 14, was a pupil at the Gilbert Institute in Paget when she was put in charge of the programme and proceeded to commit the crimes.

She was convicted of two counts of stealing and six of forgery after the jury heard how she took $30,893 from various cash deposits meant for the programme's Bank of Bermuda account. She also stole more than $10,000 by forging signatures from co-signees on the programme's cheques.

The swindle spanned the period November 2003 to April 2005.

Her trial heard how she used the forged cheques to pay bills and for supermarket shopping. Since she refused to co-operate with the Police investigation, it is unknown what she spent the cash on.

Brown, who was a volunteer in her leadership role, had taken on the responsibility of depositing the programme's funds as well as keeping the cheque book. Both roles had been done by two different people in the past but she managed to evade that check-and-balance process by putting herself in charge of both.

At her sentencing yesterday, the court heard that Brown has no previous convictions, and her son does not live with her.

Senior Crown counsel Paula Tyndale said of the impact of the crime: "The Prinicipal of the Gilbert Institute says the programme was unable to offer the service it was set up to do and staff were unable to cash their cheques.

"The Principal says the confidence of the parents in the after school programme took a while to rebuild after what happened."

Defence lawyer Larry Scott said Brown's post-conviction admission of guilt took him by surprise.

"Lee came clean. It's a bit late, but she came clean," he said.

He pointed out that she had the option to plead guilty, but had chosen to protest her innocence and go to trial, instructing him to mount a defence on her behalf.

"I put that down to pride. I think, however that Lee has now come to grips with that. For that reason I have great difficulty. I have never been faced with a situation like this in my practice," he said, telling the judge there was nothing he could offer by way of mitigation for Brown.

The defendant, whose most recent employment was as an administrative assistant at the Elbow Beach Hotel, was remanded into custody after the jury found her guilty in June.

She told the judge yesterday: "I'm grateful for the last couple of months I've spent at the Co-ed facility. It's allowed me time to think, to do some soul-searching, to admit what I've done. I'm deeply ashamed and sorry. I apologise to the Gilbert Institute, my family and friends and this court. It was wrong, I was wrong, and I'm ready to accept the consequences."

Reacting to news of the sentence, Virginia Stephens, who was president of the PTA at the time of the crimes, said: "I'm sad that we had to go through all this, but now we know the reasons why, I'm just glad that it's over and she can get the help she needs."

Anne Hyde, a friend of Brown, said: "I'm relieved at the outcome and that issues relating to Lee's circumstances have come to light in the pre-sentence report. I'm pleased the judge has included treatment for Lee in sentencing her. I know she will use her time wisely to improve her life."