The funds were never received. Instead, Saleem admitted using the money on purchases for herself The court recorded she had used £5,800 of the money on Ubers alone, as well as beauty treatments, clothes, takeaways and mobile phones.
Having spent all the money, police have had no choice but to obtain an order for retrieval of funds with a nominal £1 sum. Speaking after the hearing, DC Anthony Davis, officer in the case, said: “Xahra Saleem admitted to defrauding a charity of a significant sum of money and received a custodial sentence for it last year. She made the conscious decision to take the money for herself, when it should have gone to young people in east Bristol.”
“Saleem was instructed at Bristol Crown Court today (Friday 5 April) to pay a nominal amount following due consideration of her available assets. Should she obtain assets in the future, we would have the opportunity to seek a re-confiscation order through the courts via Section 22 of the Proceeds of Crime Act.”
When sentencing Saleem judge Michael Longman told her she had “abused her position” as director of Changing Your Mindset. He told her: “As an organiser of the Black Lives Matter march in Bristol, you gave yourself a high public profile which you used to raise money to help young people in St Pauls - an immensely worthwhile cause. That money you then used for your benefit not theirs - funding a lifestyle which you could not normally afford.”
In a statement released after the hearing, Jay Daley and Deneisha Royal from the youth group Changing Your Mindset said they continued to feel let down.
They said: “It doesn't feel that justice has been fully served as we are unlikely to get back the money from her. It feels like we are being punished. It saddens me that a member of our community could do this to us because they knew and understood the goal we set out to achieve in order to positively change our community. For me the group was a safe place. A refuge that I could relax without concern for my safety.”
“For some members it was an opportunity to cook a meal, collect donations and receive support for mental health as well as learn about new things such as employment opportunities. If we were to get the money back we would go on the trip and members of the group would reestablish the group and make changes to the community and use time on the trip to plan for this.”