Gambling addict embezzled £6200 from work to pay near £20,000 debts
A GAMBLING addict, who racked up debt nearing £20,000, has been jailed for a year after admitting embezzling almost £6500 from his work. Ross Wilson, now of Somerset Road in Ayr, was working as a manager at Farmfoods in Stranraer in 2010 when he started to steal small amounts of money from his work to pay off debts.
These small amounts quickly became £6284.56 and Wilson was confronted on August 26 that year after discrepancies in the books were noticed.
The 31-year-old was given the chance to pay the money back without police involvement and gave staff at the store his debit card as an assurance he would pay.
Wilson even started applying for a bank loan but, after failing to come up with the cash, he was again confronted by staff who demanded he repaid the money - at this point he handed over his passport to convince them he would not flee and intended to repay his debts.
Stranraer Sheriff Court was told that staff remained in touch and exchanged texts with him to see how he was getting on recouping the money.
Unable to find the money, the business management graduate then resorted to stealing a cheque from his mum and posted it with a letter through the door of the premises on Charlotte Street in the town.
But, when his mum pulled a statement from an ATM in early September, she noticed a payment pending for £6500 to Farmfoods and immediately contacted her bank. Time was up for Wilson, as the cheque failed to clear and staff finally called in the police.
Speaking to Stranraer Sheriff Court on Tuesday, Wilson's defence solicitor, Ms Stewart said he was "extremely regretful" over his actions, after things just got "out of control".
Ms Stewart said he was "extremely remorseful" about stealing his mother's chequebook to try to pay off the debt with her money. She said relations between the two had improved after she was made aware of his addiction.
Wilson had one previous conviction of "dishonesty", which was resolved by means of a fine and Ms Stewart said he was "eager to get his life back on track" as she asked for a community payback order to be considered as his punishment.
However, Sheriff Robb dismissed this request and sentenced Wilson to 12 months imprisonment, two months of which he had already served after pleading guilty.
Sheriff Robb told Wilson: "You entered a scheme to take money from your employers. I accept you tried to pay this back, but you seemed to have used the time honoured means of getting out of a hole, whereby you just kept digging even further."
Published: 03 Aug 2012
http://www.stranraer-freepress.co.uk/article.aspx?id=765&Type=F
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