An Aberdeen man who was recently jailed for scamming a company out of £207,000 has had his sentence extended after he admitted pulling the same con at Lidl.
Dishonest Ryan Young, 35, was working as a trainee store manager at the Bucksburn supermarket when he swindled £23,000 over a three-month period.
After being sacked from there, he got a new job at an Aberdeen painting and decorating firm – then started swindling even more money from them.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that for Young’s Lidl swindle he would cash up the tills each evening before logging back into the company computer to alter the takings.
He was rumbled when store bosses checked the dates of the thefts against who was supervising the store.
Young’s own solicitor described the scam as “possibly the most unsophisticated level of embezzlement imaginable”.
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told the court that between September 28 2018 and November 29 2018 Young had been employed as a trainee stare manager at the Lidl store on Inverurie Road, Bucksburn.
She stated that Young was given responsibility for overseeing and cashing up the tills at the end of each employee’s shift.
“Around November 14 2019 the company’s area manager was contacted by Lidl’s head of sales for the North of Scotland,” the fiscal depute said.
“He was advised that discrepancies of £23,000 had been identified at the Lidl, Bucksburn store.”
During an investigation it emerged that in the majority of cases where there were discrepancies the till takings had been recorded as £0 or had been recorded as much lower than the real figure taken.
“This allowed the accused to then keep the difference between the amount actually in the till and the amount that was recorded when cashing up,” Ms Simpson said.
The investigation revealed that Young had been getting the employee to sign genuine reports about takings, but had later logged back into the computer system and altered the figures.
Young, who is already serving a 26-month prison sentence, pleaded guilty to one charge of embezzling £23,000 from Lidl.
The crimes were committed around four months before he started embezzling from Johnston’s Decorating Centre in the harbour area of the city.
‘Deep regret and shame’
Defence agent Liam McAllister said: “We are dealing with possibly the most unsophisticated level of embezzlement imaginable.
“It almost cries out that this will be identified and this shows a pattern of self-destructive nature that Mr Young appears to have. When he tries to understand it himself I don’t think he does.
“He has nothing to show for this other than deep regret and the shame this has brought on his family.
“He really does want to bring a close to this chapter of his life.”
Sheriff Ian Wallace described Young’s actions as “another serious example of dishonest conduct”.
He added: “I take into account the serious nature and the high value of this embezzlement and that you are already serving a custodial sentence.”
Sheriff Wallace sentenced Young, of Virginia Street, Aberdeen, to an additional 12 months in prison.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.
