A MOTHER has appeared in court accused of failing to ensure her teenage daughter attended school.

Lesley Fountain, also known as Ann Madden, is said to have 'failed to cause' her 15-year-old daughter Melanie to attend Blackfyne Community School in Consett, from the start of the academic year in September until the end of last term, on March 18.

Mrs Madden said while she accepted that her daughter had failed to attend school she had 'tried everything' to get her to go.

Durham magistrates refused to accept that explanation as a plea to the complaint, brought by the county council's education authority.

The hearing was adjourned to allow Mrs Madden, 46, of Medomsley Road, Consett, to seek legal advice before returning to court to put in her plea, on Friday May 6.

Should she deny the charge a trial will be staged before the magistrates, on Monday, May 23.

There is a potential maximum sentence of a £2,500 fine, or a three-month prison sentence for anyone convicted of the offence.

In a previous case a mother from Newton Aycliffe became the first in the county to be jailed for failing to ensure her child attended school.

A ten-day sentence was imposed by magistrates in Bishop Auckland in February for the woman's failure to send her son to a secondary school.

Speaking at the time, Coun Neil Foster, the county council cabinet member for education, said taking parents to court was a last resort, only pursued after all other avenues had been explored.

He said the authority had a responsibility under the Education Act to prosecute parents if their child did not attend school, should all other measures fail to work.