Banker gets two years for £80,000 loans fraud

A BANK manager who swindled her employers out of £80,000 by making fake loans was yesterday jailed for two years.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told Charlotte Walker, 41, had got into financial difficulty after the breakdown of her marriage. She bought a home for her and her daughter to live in, but was unable to keep up with mortgage repayments, so she used her position to gain cash.

She made a total of ten fraudulent loans over two years by taking out loans in fictitious names and transferring the cash to her own accounts.

Sheriff Nigel Morrison, QC, told her: "This is a very serious fraud of 80,000 and a breach of trust, as you were an employee there for 24 years. It is not clear what you would propose to do in relation to repayment; there has been none to date."

Walker, of Echline Gardens, South Queensferry, had previously admitted obtaining 80,322.47 by fraud between 6 January, 2005, and 30 January, 2007, at Clydesdale Bank at Edinburgh's Hanover Street.

Defence agent Ewen Roy appealed to the sheriff to impose community service.

He said: "The catalyst for the offending seems to have been the end of her marriage in 2000. She was left with the responsibility of looking after her daughter.

"Not long after that, she began to work as manager at the Inverkeithing branch and bought a house for her and her daughter and she thought she would be in a position to keep up with the mortgage. She could not and took out a couple of legitimate loans and she also used her credit card extensively."

Mr Roy said Walker had been transferred to other branches and took on more responsibilities, but did not get an increase in salary. The borrowing got out of hand and Walker had been too proud to admit her financial problems.

Mr Roy added Walker had also suffered from severe depression and anxiety as a result of the offences.