Post office worker stole £33,000 from 89-year-old

Middleweight fighter Nadeem Amjid, 26, was working at Colinton Mains Post Office when he took the cash over a 19-month period.

Marjorie Mills had placed thousands of pounds’ worth of cash into the care of the post office after being attacked in her home on Colinton Mains Road almost six years ago.

But heartless Amjid decided to help himself to the savings and was only rumbled after Ms Mills’ daughter checked her mother’s financial statements and discovered that the OAP’s nest egg had been depleted.

When Ms Mills was quizzed, she told her horrified relatives that she had been visiting the post office and had only been withdrawing £50 at a time.

Police were notified before an investigation was launched, and detectives discovered that Amjid had been accessing her account and had helped himself to a total of £33,646.

The story emerged yesterday following a hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court before Sheriff Paul Arthurson QC.

Amjid, of Elliot Place in Craiglockhart, admitted a charge of fraudulently obtaining cash from Ms Mills on various

occasions between October 29, 2010 and May 16, 2012.

It is understood that since being robbed by Amjid, Ms Mills has left Edinburgh and now lives in a care home in the north of Scotland.

The court heard how Amjid was an employee at the post office and had served Ms Mills on several occasions.

Prosecution lawyer Isobel Clark said the OAP would be given £50 and a receipt, but that Amjid was actually withdrawing £650 from the account and pocketing £600.

Bosses at the post office, she added, had since reimbursed the stolen cash back into Ms Mills’ account.

Ms Mills told the News after being attacked in September 2007 that she no longer felt safe in her own home.

A 19-year-old man was sentenced to 27 months in a young offenders’ institution in 2008 after he admitted kicking in the door of Ms Mills’ home before threatening her with a knife.

Speaking after the teenager – who had denied his involvement until his fingerprint was found at the property – admitted the attack at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Ms Mills said he deserved a “severe sentence”, and that she had thought he was going to kill her.

She said: “When I saw the knife I thought he was going to use it so I was very lucky. I don’t want him to do this to another elderly person so he should go to jail.

“I’ve lived in Edinburgh for 50 years and nothing like this has happened to me before. I don’t feel safe in my house any more.

“I was in bed when I heard my front door being kicked at about 10pm. I was getting up and getting dressed when this man came into my room holding a Stanley knife.

“He held the knife at my face and kept asking me for money. I said my money was in the bank.”

A woman who answered the door of the house Amjid shares with his parents, only streets away from Ms Mills’ former home, said yesterday that the family did not wish to comment on the case.

Sheriff Arthurson yesterday deferred sentence on Amjid until next month in order for the court to obtain background reports.

His legal team are expected to explain the reasons behind his behaviour at that hearing.

Sheriff Arthurson said: “This is a deplorable offence.”

LAWYER GUILTY OF LAUNDERING

A LAWYER linked to a fraudster has been convicted of money laundering.

Richard Housley – and co-accused bookkeeper Caroline Laing – helped Michael Voudouri and his associates squirrel £1.8 million of dirty cash.

Housley, who worked for Gebals Solicitors in Bathgate, was also convicted of income tax fraud and a separate charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The duo were bailed and will appear for sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh on March 4.

The case involved Glasgow-based Q-Tech Distribution, which claimed back VAT on bogus transactions in a con known as carousel fraud.

Voudouri had been due to stand trial, but pleaded guilty last year to laundering more than £10m.

The 45-year-old is currently on the run after he later failed to turn up to be sentenced.

Housley, 55, and Laing, 57, of Stirlingshire, denied their involvement during the lengthy trial.

Judge Lord Tyre deferred sentencing for reports. Housley and Laing also face a further hearing in March under the Proceeds of Crime Act.