THE founder and former principal and the former finance director of a free school in West Yorkshire were told yesterday that they would be tried for fraud next year.

Sajid Hussain Raza, 42, and Daud Khan, 44, pleaded not guilty to a number of offences relating to their involvement at Kings Science Academy, now Dixons Kings Academy, in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

They will go on trial with a third defendant, Shabana Hussain, at Leeds Crown Court in June 2016.

All three are accused of abusing their positions by siphoning off money from a government grant into the personal bank accounts of Mr Raza and Ms Hussain.

Mr Raza, of Spring Garden Roads, Bradford, is charged with abusing his position between November 2010 and March 2011 by making a series of payments into his personal bank account from another grant.

Mr Khan, of Thornhill Place, Thornbury, and Mr Raza are also accused of making a series of payments into Mr Raza’s personal bank account between September 2011 and December 2013 from the school’s bank account.

The two men are also charged with falsifying a series of documents, including invoices for rent, invoices for heads of department and invoices for recruitment services, which were submitted to the Department for Education for payment.

Ms Hussain, 39, of Wilmer Road, Bradford, is charged with a separate count of acquiring criminal property by money laundering between November 2010 and March 2011.

She pleaded not guilty at a previous hearing and did not appear in court yesterday.

The academy was one of the first free schools to open in September 2011. It was praised as a great success story by David Cameron on a visit in March 2012.