A DISGRACED Wealdstone headmistress who conned foreign students into handing over thousands of pounds for bogus qualifications has been jailed.

Dr Roselle Antoine MBE “promised the earth” to the unsuspecting pupils, asking them to fork out money for courses at the TCS Tutorial College towards qualifications she knew were worthless.

The shamed headteacher, once hailed as a “wonder woman” on breakfast TV, hung her head as Recorder Catherine Newman jailed her for eight months – the culmination of a spectacular fall from grace.

Antoine built up a respected college in Palmerston Road which offered education and training to pupils who had been excluded from other schools and to immigrants looking to better themselves in the UK.

Her barrister James Cartwight told Southwark Crown Court this afternoon that the vast majority of Antoine's work was done “properly” and asked for her crimes to be seen as nothing more than an “aberration”.

During her trial, the court heard how Antoine, 54, encouraged three students to come to the college and part with up to £1,350 a year for tuition towards exams and ultimately qualifications to get to university.

However, she told them the exams had been cancelled, knowing full well they never existed in the first place, and produced end-of-year certificates not worth the paper they were printed on.

Sentencing, Recorder Newman QC said: “The worst thing about your offending is when the students came to England, they were a little bit lost, they were vulnerable, and had in most cases not had much in the way of secondary, and certainly nothing in the way of tertiary education.

“They also hoped to better themselves and find better jobs back home on their return.

“You were a figure of establishment with your own tuition college, you offered them the earth and gave them very little.

“They were vulnerable to you and trusted you, and you let them down very badly.”

She added that Antoine's crimes were so serious that they had to warrant a jail term.

Auvalyn Howell, 34, from Wembley was one of Antoine's victims, and says she is still bitter and angry at what happened.

She said: “She has destroyed not just my life but many of my colleagues' lives and I will never forgive her for what she has done.

“At least there has been some form of punishment and now people can see what she is worth. That woman is a danger to herself and a danger to anybody else.

“It brings some form of closure, but every time I look at that certificate I am depressed. I wasted four years of my life.”

Antoine was ordered to compensate her three victims, who all came to England from Jamaica, £3,550 and must pay £5,000 court costs.

She was found guilty by a jury in March of four counts of fraud and eight counts of giving immigration advice illegally.