THREE women accused of being involved in a scam to swindle money out of a charity have been formally cleared at Southwark Crown Court.

The case against Linda Foster, 31, of New North Road, Hainault, Janet Britton, 41, of Sunset Avenue, Chingford and Maria Hayes, 42, of Wren Terrace, Loughton collapsed after the prosecution could bring no evidence against the trio.

All three women had pleaded not guilty to acquiring the proceeds of criminal conduct. They had been accused of being part of a scheme where employees at a Jewish cemetery in Waltham Abbey submitted over inflated invoices, creaming off thousands of pounds destined for maintenance work.

The decision came after the dramatic collapse of an expensive trial last month, when the Finchley-based United Synagogue was accused of witholding vital information.

He had accused powers within United Synagogue of being "unenthusiastic" about helping police and insulting justice when vital documents, which they claimed not to have, eventually appeared at the last minute.

But during this trial last Thursday, however, the Judge George Bathurst-Norman backtracked on his former announcement and said he believed directors at the United Synagogue "behaved with the utmost professional manner".

He said: "I make my decision on the basis of what is put before me. If in doing that, I was unfair to United Synagogue I can only apologise. I was deeply concerned about the chasm that opened up in the case."

The United Synagogue informed the judge that they had assisted the police and prosecution every step of the way.

Two of the 10 accused still face sentencing after pleading to conspiring to defraud the United Synagogue between December 1994 and 1998.

Andrew Camp, 39, of Bovingdon Road, Braintree, who was foreman at Waltham Abbey and his sister-in-law Jacqueline Camp, 42, of The Vale, Woodford Green have pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud United Synagogue between December 1994 and 1998.

However, Andrew claimed he swindled nothing like the £500,000 claimed by the prosecution and will return to Southwark Crown court on February 8 2002 for a hearing to establish his involvement. Both defendants will be sentenced afterwards.