BLM protester behind Bristol statue tipping protest jailed for fraud
An organiser of a Black Lives Matter protest who stole tens of thousands of pounds of donations for her own use has been jailed.
Xahra Saleem, now aged 23, was one of the most high-profile BLM marchers in Bristol in March 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by police in the US.
Saleem set up a fundraising page later that year, with the money raised being earmarked for projects to help young people in St Paul’s.
The fundraiser was set up around the time of a demonstration which saw a statue of Edward Colston being toppled into Bristol Harbour.
She became a director of Changing Your Mindset Ltd, a charitable group which would run those projects, but after facing difficulty setting up a business account the group decided to pay the money into Saleem’s account as an ‘interim measure’.
The crowdfunding raised more than £32,000 – but she took the money for herself, spending it on a new iPhone, hair and beauty appointments, clothes, taxis, and takeaways as well as living expenses like shopping and bills.
Saleem, from Romford in east London, initially pleaded not guilty to fraud by abusing her position as director of Changing Your Mindset, but she later changed her plea to guilty.
She appeared at Bristol crown court on Tuesday where she was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.
Judge Michael Longman, sentencing, said the charitable group was ‘a worthwhile cause but that money you then used not for their benefit but for your own, funding a lifestyle for yourself that you could not otherwise have afforded’.
The judge said: ‘The amount raised exceeded expectations by a significant margin and raised over £32,000.
‘The others involved in the project trusted you to hold the funds securely until a better arrangement could be made.
‘Eventually such an account was set up in April 2021. There should have been no reason why the money could not be transferred into that account but problems became apparent.
‘The money was not transferred and you made excuses for that failure.’
The prosecution said Saleem transferred several hundred pounds into the account of a relative in July 2020 with the reference ‘Fred, hold it for me please’ and said ‘from that point onwards the floodgates opened and the defendant used the money freely with no funds being credited to the account to cover the shortfall’.
Saleem eventually admitted the money had gone but put forward contradictory excuses as to why, the court heard. She also offered to report herself to the police, but didn’t.
In June 2021 Saleem discussed the fraud over WhatsApp with a friend, telling them: ‘I have done something horrendous, you can’t tell anyone until I have properly sorted it out.’
Draft apology messages were also found on her phone.
Saleem claimed she had suffered from psychosis which stopped her from thinking rationally.
The judge added: ‘After your account was credited with the company’s funds you quickly began to disperse those funds.
‘In July 2020 you transferred the sum of several hundred pounds into a family member’s account to be held there and thereafter the prosecution say “the floodgates opened”.
‘I am not sure if that is an appropriate phrase or not but, even if there wasn’t a flood of money out of the accounts, there was constant leakage over a significant period of time with more than 2,500 separate payments out of your accounts between June 2020 and September 2021 whereby the funds raised were dissipated and the intended beneficiaries were deprived of the opportunities they were intended to have.’
Changing Your Mindset has since closed down.
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