A “devious” gambling addict who ran up thousands of pound of debt has been spared a jail sentence after embezzling more than £12,000 from his Aberdeen employer.
Over the course of a year, Craig Dyer plundered the profits at Plumbstore Plumbing and Heating Supplies by refunding large sums of cash on to his own debit card.
The 41-year-old was only caught out after he billed a customer for a £1,000 boiler which he did not buy.
Last night, manager at the firm, David Cameron, said he and his colleagues had been “devastated” by the “gross breach of trust”.
He said he had known Dyer for 20 years and had given him his job at the plumbing store 10 years ago.
He said: “It was complete blow to me when we discovered what he had done.
“We trusted him not only as a colleague but as a friend. He was just so devious. He spent months opening my mail without me knowing what he was doing so he could hide the transactions from me.
“And at one point we were all treated as suspects when they discovered the money was missing before he owned up.”
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard yesterday that Dyer’s life had spiralled out of control in 2012 when his mother died.
Representing the first offender, who admitted the charge against him when he appeared in court last month, solicitor Gregor Kelly said his client’s crime had been “amateurish, simplistic and an easily traceable course of conduct”.
He said: “He lived with his mother all of his life and was somewhat a loner until 2012. He relied on his mother to do everything for him. She would take care of all his direct debts and money issues.
“He relied on her to such an extent it was practically infantile.
“When his mother died he moved into a flat on his own and found himself swamped. He started gambling £30 a week on the football and horses.
“However, this soon increased to the point he was gambling £500 to £1,000 away every month.”
Mr Kelly said Dyer “stuck his head in the sand” when he realised that he was in so much debt and said it was not until he was in receipt of “quite serious demands for money” that he decided to embezzle the cash.
The court heard that as well as being £3,000 behind on his mortgage repayments for his flat, he also owed a short-term loan company £15,000.
Sheriff Alison Stirling told Dyer that the embezzlement of £12,475.92 was a “very serious matter” but given his age and the fact he had no previous convictions she was prepared to deal with him without sending him to jail.
Dyer of, 9 Clashrodney Way, Cove Bay, Aberdeen, was ordered to carry out 240 hours of community service within the next 12 months. He was also put under supervision for a year.