Top hairdresser hired private detective to probe salon theft

Published on Friday 4 July 2008 10:36

LEGENDARY Edinburgh hairdresser Charlie Miller hired a private detective to spy on his staff after almost £80,000 worth of top-of-the-range hair straighteners went missing, a court has heard.

Charlie Miller, 63, said he was "just horrified" and "deeply hurt" to discover that employee Mark McMorrine was responsible for the thefts.

McMorrine, 37, had been promoted to the manager's position of Charlie Miller's Ocean Terminal salon because he was trusted "one hundred per cent" by his boss.

McMorrine denies allegations he stole hairdressing irons and products from the Charlie Miller Hairdressing salons in South St Andrew Street and Ocean Terminal between December 2004 and September 2006, and fraudulently obtained 63,000 by selling the items on eBay.

Mr Miller, who opened his first salon in 1965 and now owns five, told the court McMorrine had been employed as a hairdresser in the Stafford Street salon before being moved to the South St Andrews Street branch where he was later promoted to assistant manager.

After working for the company for ten years, McMorrine was made manager of the Ocean Terminal branch when it opened in 2005 after showing "potential."

"I trusted him 100 per cent, not 99 per cent," said Mr Miller. "I never had any doubts at all, none of us did."

He said McMorrine asked to be made a partner in the company and had offered to put in 10,000 but was turned down because he had "not progressed to that level".

"I never discussed it with him but in our minds he was on that kind of path. You do have to prove yourself that you can go that far with us," said Mr Miller.

The new salon sold the popular top-of-the-range GHD electric hair straightening irons and a selection of shampoos, conditioners and other hair products, said Mr Miller.

In September 2006, accountants discovered 600 sets of GHD irons were missing from the Ocean Terminal salon and no money had been paid for them, said Mr Miller.

When he asked McMorrine who might be responsible, he pointed the finger at two other members of staff at the salon, one of whom was later suspended.

Mr Miller hired a private detective to track the other member of staff and watched the stores CCTV cameras in a bid to catch the culprit, before suspicions fell on McMorrine, of Lasswade Court, Lasswade, Midlothian.

He said: "Initially it was suggested by the detective that he wasn't sure about Steven. I said 'I don't think you have got anything to worry about there'.

Mr Miller said he attended McMorrine's wedding but later called a disciplinary meeting with McMorrine after evidence pointed towards his guilt.

McMorrine was suspended and handed in his resignation ahead of a second disciplinary meeting.

When asked how he felt when he discovered McMorrine may have stolen from him, Mr Miller replied: "Just horrified."

"I just couldn't believe it but we had evidence that made us believe it. We were deeply hurt obviously, because of the trust we had put in him. I had no doubts about him at all so it was a big shock."

The trial, before Sheriff Derrick McIntyre, continues.