Jail for councillor who stole cash to pay bills

A SHAMED councillor who embezzled more than £13,000 from a community group to pay his bills was jailed for a year yesterday.

Scott Cassie - who has a street named after him in his former Aberdeen ward - betrayed fellow members of the Kaimhill Outdoor Sports Society, where he acted as chairman, using the group's cash to pay for his phone, rent, car insurance and a personal loan.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard Mr Cassie's finances had "spiralled out of control" as he attempted to replace borrowed cash from the group, resulting in him swindling 13,500 over a period of 11 years.

Defence agent Gregor Kelly said the councillor would be "haunted for life" by what he had done.

The former councillor, 61, who stepped down from his role as the Liberal Democrat group's deputy leader in August last year after the allegations emerged, shook as he was handcuffed and led away to start his jail sentence yesterday.

Procurator Fiscal depute Lynn Mannion said Mr Cassie had been a joint trustee of the sports club's accounts. She said the offence came to light when he revealed to members at a meeting that there was less than 5,500 in the group's account.

The councillor's house was searched six months later during a police probe, and two cheque books relating to the society's bank account were found.

The fiscal said: "One of the books was empty and another contained a number of blank cheques."

She said direct debit details were also found linking the accounts to "personal expenditure" by Cassie in the form of a string of bills.

Sentencing Cassie, Sheriff Edward Savage said he had been trusted by the public and he had "betrayed their expectations".

He added: "These funds were sourced from public funds. Whatever your motives might have been, the court must conclude that a high degree of premeditation was involved."

Last month, Cassie admitted embezzling the cash from his home between 24 August, 1998 and 29 May, 2009.

Mr Kelly offered more than 7,000 to the court that the ex-councillor had saved since the offence came to light.

City Labour spokesman Willie Young said his actions could have tarred the reputation of councillors, many of whom work hard on behalf of the public. He said: "The sheriff has made his decision taking all facts into consideration but there are other issues as well as his breach of trust."