A West Suffolk district councillor will be able to continue in her elected role despite being convicted of bribing two nursery workers to lie to Ofsted.

Elaine McManus paid the workers at Stepping Stones nursery in Haverhill, where she was a manager and director, £100 each after they signed a false statement about how many staff were on duty when three children escaped from the grounds and got onto a road.

On Friday, magistrates in Ipswich handed the 66-year-old Haverhill resident a community order of 60 hours unpaid work and fines of £200 after she pleaded guilty to two charges of giving financial advantage to induce improper performance of a relevant function or activity at an earlier hearing.

However, a spokesperson for West Suffolk Council said the legal threshold for disqualification from the council was three months or more imprisonment, including a suspended sentence, but as she received a lesser conviction, she would remain a councillor unless she chose to resign.

She said: “The sentence given does not amount to that and means that unless she resigns, Cllr McManus will remain a councillor until the election in May when she will need to decide whether she wishes to seek re-election or not.”

In July, magistrates heard Katherine Emms, prosecuting, state that on March 30, 2021, under the supervision of an 18-year-old nursery worker, three children were able to leave the playground unattended and were found in the road by a member of the public.

McManus, who is also a Haverhill town councillor, should have reported the incident to Ofsted, but it was instead reported by the member of the public who had found the children.

Ms Emms told the court that there should have been another member of staff on duty and when confronted, McManus told Ofsted inspectors that there had been.

Both staff members were then paid £100 each straight into their bank accounts as a reward, the court heard.

On April 16, McManus phoned the access lead officer for Suffolk County Council and explained what had happened.

She admitted that she hadn't told the truth and had panicked and paid £100 each to the two staff members.

McManus stepped down from her role, and the nursery was closed down by Ofsted, the court heard.