The head of Egypt’s Jewish community has escaped prison after winning an appeal against a fraud conviction.

Carmen Weinstein was found not guilty of defrauding a businessman out of more than £320,000 by an appeals court in Cairo.

In July Ms Weinstein, 82, was sentenced to three years in prison for selling a property which she did not own. She was alleged to have taken money from an investor for the purchase but not given him the deeds to the building.

She denied the charges and said that the documents supplied as evidence were false.

In the 1920s the Egyptian Jewish community numbered 80,000, but the population has dropped to just double figures.

In March 2010 the restored Ben Maimon synagogue in Cairo’s ancient Jewish quarter was opened.