Mother jailed over £53,000 embezzlement

A mother of four, who ripped off two companies she worked for of over £53,000, has been jailed for 18 months for what a Sheriff described as “a grave breach of trust”.

Fifty-four year old Lorna Brand of Westwood, West Calder, had pled guilty previously at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to embezzling £25,734 while employed by GWC (UK) Ltd in West Calder between November 2, 2007, and November 5, 2008.

She also admitted embezzling £27,433.58 while working for Jefcoate Anderson Architects Ltd and Lothian Design and Build Ltd in Penicuik between June 14, 2009,and April 21, 2010. Sentence was deferred until today for background reports.

In the year she worked with GWC, Mrs Brand was in charge of writing cheques, payment to staff and dealing with customers.

She was caught in November 2008 when the company’s Managing Director received a call from the bank querying a cheque which was addressed to her and placed in a joint bank account she held with her husband. She was dismissed, but for some reason the matter was not reported to the police.

In May 2009, she got a job with the firm in Penicuik. She began operating the same scam in June of that year.

In April 2010, her employers found that a cheque which was meant to have been sent to HM Revenue and Customs had been made payable to Lorna Brand and paid into her own account. She was arrested shortly afterwards. The court heard that her husband had no knowledge of the embezzlements.

Defence solicitor, Mark Harrower, told Sheriff James Scott that Mr and Mrs Brand had got themselves into considerable debt, around £40,000.

At one stage their joint bank account had been arrested because of non-payment of the Council Tax and they had various other creditors, including credit card debts.

At the time of the offences, he said, Mr Brand was working away from home most of the time and was also troubled by a gambling addiction.

“Mrs Brand lapsed into this severe breach of trust” he said, but added that she was a genuine first offender.

Mr Harrower said the couple had been separated for two years, but there had been some improvement in their relationship in recent months and Mr Brand was in court to support his wife. “They may very well resume co-habitation when this case is dealt with”.

Mr Brand, said the lawyer, accepted that his gambling addiction had contributed to the debt problem and he had paid £5000 to GWC.

In relation to the embezzlement from Jefcoate Anderson, Mr Harrower said two cheques valued at £5933.13 had been held by the bank and returned to the company. This meant the amount still owing to the firms was £42,234.45. Mrs Brand, he added, was offering to pay compensation at the minimum rate of £200 a month, mostly provided her husband.

Mr Brand, a taxi driver, was expecting about £5000 from an insurance claim on a taxi which had been written off and was also in line for a Criminal Injuries award following an assault on him by a passenger. Mr Harrower said he was willing to hand over that money in compensation.

Sheriff Scott said he was taking into account the “compelling and mitigation factors” revealed in reports, Mrs Brand’s full co-operation with the police; her guilty plea, and the fact that she was a first offender. It was, however, an embezzlement of a substantial sum of money and a grave breach of trust in respect of both employers, and only a custodial sentence was appropriate.

He sentenced her to 18 months on both charges to run concurrently.