A chef at an Ellon hotel stole more than £2,700 of his co-workers’ tips to pay off his debts, a court has heard.
David Bruce, 25, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted swiping the money from envelopes and tip jars at the New Inn Hotel in Ellon over a three-month period.
He was finally caught when bosses spotted him taking the cash on the hotel’s CCTV.
The court heard that Bruce has managed to repay more than £1,000 of the cash to date.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of stealing more than £2,700 in tips from his colleagues between October 29 and December 14 2020.
Fiscal depute Kiril Bonavino told the court that when one worker at the New Inn Hotel went to retrieve the tips on December 14 2020 that an envelope containing thousands of pounds had gone missing.
He said: “She found that only two envelopes remained and one of them only contained £5 in cash.
“It was understood that the money that had been distributed to the kitchen had been a minimum of £2,700.
“The manager was immediately informed that the money had gone missing and members of staff attempted to look for the missing money.
“At the time the tip jar was also checked and around £60 was missing from it.
“Another witness also reported that her tips had gone missing.”
Bosses checked the CCTV footage and Bruce was seen taking money on “several occasions”.
The chef was approached about the missing tips and admitted the thefts – he also offered to pay the money back
However, Bruce was immediately sacked by his bosses and ordered to leave the hotel.
Accused ‘built up debts’
Defence agent Stuart Flowerdew told the court that Bruce had taken the money on seven or eight occasions, but had paid back more than £1,000 “almost immediately” upon being caught.
He said: “He had built up some debts and he didn’t know how he was going to repay them – ultimately, that led to his offending.
“Mr Bruce is very remorseful about this and has been repaying some of the money through his paycheck.”
Sheriff Edward Gilroy told Bruce: “I have decided that this is a case that I can deal with without the imposition of a custodial sentence.”
He sentenced Bruce, of Countesswells Park Avenue, Aberdeen, to a community payback order with supervision for 12 months and ordered him to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work.
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