RBS worker jailed for stealing £120k from customer

None of the cash stolen can be recovered but Mr Brown has since been reimbursed by RBS. Picture: Getty

The 30-year-old said oil and gas worker Robert Brown had offered her the cash to stop her reporting him to the police.

But the former RBS worker had in fact stolen large sums of money from Mr Brown and transferred it into the bank account of another customer.

She then wrote a cheque to herself and sent a large sum of cash back home to India.

Kaur, of Glasgow, was found guilty of the theft after she went on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court earlier this month.

Sentence was deferred for reports and she was jailed for a year today.

Defence lawyer Peter Keene said yesterday: “This has been a very long journey for Miss Kaur.

“She started off with an unblemished character, was well thought of in the bank. She was top seller of various insurances.

“Her position is quite clearly given in the report, she doesn’t see herself as guilty.”

Mr Keene said his client was sorry bank customer Robert Mann had to come to court to give evidence as he was an “elderly and infirm” man.

The lawyer added: “Her position was that he had offered her assistance to transfer this money but of course he denied that.”

Kaur was working as a customer advisor at the RBS Albyn Place branch in Aberdeen when she stole the cash between October 20 and November 21, 2011.

By using her unique identification number to access Mr Brown’s account, she arranged to draw a bankers draft for that sum payable to Robert Mann.

The sacked bank worker claimed she had asked Mr Mann’s permission to use his account for a bank transfer.

She told the court during the trial: “Mr Mann, I had known him for the last five years. He was like a father figure to me.

“I used to go to his place and cook for him. He gave me earrings as well.”

But Mr Mann said in his evidence that he had no prior knowledge of this transfer taking place from his account and stressed that he had not given any permission.

Mr Brown did not even notice the missing cash transferred on October 20, 2011 until he was informed by the authorities who were called in to investigate.

Several large sums of cash had been transferred from Mr Brown’s bank accounts to Mr Mann’s adding up to a total sum of £120,000.

A cheque was then written out for the same amount in the name of Mr Mann to Kaur’s Lloyds TSB account.

None of the cash can be recovered but Mr Brown has since been reimbursed by the bank.

Kaur was also found guilty of removing £88,000 of the cash out of Scotland after she went on trial earlier this month.

Yesterday Sheriff Christopher Shead noted that Kaur did not accept responsibility for her crime and that the stolen cash had not been recovered.

He said he was satisfied that a custodial sentence was appropriate for the case.

Kaur was originally charged on indictment and was due to go on trial facing similar charges last year.

But the trial collapsed after it emerged that the Crown had made a mistake.

The essential words ‘by authority of Her Majesty’s Advocate’, which are required by law, were missing from the indictment paperwork served against the accused.

This meant that the indictment was incompetent because the document failed to show that the case had been officially authorised by Scotland’s top legal officer.

Sheriff Shead said the sentencing powers would have been far greater if Kaur had been found guilty on indictment.