Bank manager jailed for swindling thousands of pounds from OAPs

Published on Tuesday 20 October 2009 09:40

A BANK manager who swindled thousands of pounds from elderly customers wept in the dock as she was told by a sheriff she could not "buy her way out of custody".

Former Lloyds TSB branch manager Susan Burnett, 40, embezzled almost 15,000 and obtained more than 7,000 by fraud to pay off her own debts.

Jailing her for 13 months at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Sheriff Derrick McIntyre said: "You were the manager of a bank in a senior position of trust. You were not just a bank teller stealing a few hundred pounds. You used your position of trust to facilitate these offences which makes it very grave indeed."

Sheriff McIntyre added that although Burnett was considered a low risk of re-offending he had no option but to jail her.

He said he reduced her sentence due to the fact all the cash had been paid back and said: "You cannot buy your way out of custody but I am able to mitigate the sentence."

Burnett was caught after pensioner Elizabeth Lindsay made a complaint about irregularities in her account. Cash was also taken from the account of Janette Lambert and Burnett also made false loan applications in her name.

First offender Burnett, of Woodlands Bank, Dalgety Bay, admitted embezzling 14,890 from the accounts of Ms Lambert and Ms Lindsay while manager of branches at High Street, Kirkcaldy, and Haymarket, Edinburgh.

Defence agent Angus McLennan told the court Burnett had lost her career and been forced to sell her home. He said: "This has been a considerable fall from grace."