A woman working for a domestic abuse charity used its credit card to pay for hotel stays, train tickets and a mobile phone.
Claire Gillespie, who was employed by Ross-shire Women’s Aid, stole £4276.96 between March 16, 2017, and September 25, 2017.
Yesterday at Inverness Sheriff Court, Gillespie, of Fraser Road, Dingwall, admitted the theft and had sentence deferred until May 2 for repayment.
Her defence lawyer, Aileen MacInnes, told Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald that her client and her family would repay the money within four weeks.
Sentence had earlier been deferred on Gillespie for a background report. Mrs MacInnes told the Sheriff: “The irony of her situation as outlined in the report and the organisation she worked for will not be lost on the court.”
Mrs MacInnes did not elaborate further.
Fiscal depute Niall Macdonald told the court that Gillespie had worked for the charity, which supports vulnerable women who are victims of domestic abuse, for five years.
“She resigned in August 2017 and it was not until November 2017 that checks on the credit card statements revealed 97 unauthorised transactions.
“Three people were entrusted with the cards which were used to buy items the charity needed. The transactions included one for a mobile phone, iTunes, hotels, train tickets as well as to Tesco and the Coop.
“There was also a payment for house rent. Police were made aware of the discrepancies and detained her. In her interview, she at first denied the offence but later accepted it was her.
“She said; ‘I would like to try and pay it back’ when charged.” Mr Macdonald went on.
No explanation of the reason for the dishonesty was given in court.
