A devious mother posed as another parent in an attempt to remove a rival child's name from a school waiting list.

The woman created a fraudulent Gmail account to fool school authorities at the "outstanding" Coleridge primary school in Crouch End, London.

Using this fake account and quoting the name and correct date of birth of the child, she wrote to education officials at Haringey council and told them to remove the four year-old girl from the list. Which they did.

The ruse unravelled when the victim's mother phoned to inquire about the progress of her child's application.

Police have launched an investigation and the council is to improve admission procedures.

The subject of the identity fraud, a mother of two in her late thirties, told the London Evening Standard: "Everyone is desperate to get their kids into a good school but this is extreme behaviour. This person clearly has issues to think doing this is acceptable." ®