SCALES OF JUSTICE Adminheadembezzled £8K using credit card

A FORMER employee of Glasgow University’s maths department was caught spending more than £8,000 on the university’s credit card.

Yvonne Marlow was sentenced at Glasgow Sheriff Court for embezzling the money.

The court heard that the 47-yearold received the maths department’s credit card in 2010, where she signed off on credit card conditions to use it for university purposes only.

However, in July 2011 two invoices were received by the administration office of the university stating that the card had been used while Marlow was on annual leave.

The invoices referred to a number of purchases made which amounted to a total of £8,209.83.

Marlow, of Allander Road in Bearsden, was suspended by the university in 2011 after the discovery was made.

Then, after an audit was carried out she was immediately dismissed in 2012.

Marlow admitted that between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011 at Allander Road, Bearsden, Glasgow University, 15 University Gardens and elsewhere in Scotland, she embezzled £8,209.83 while employed as the head of administration for the university’s maths department.

Her defending solicitor said that his client did not expect this case would go through the justice system until she received a letter in 2016 notifying her of the court date.

At the time the offence was carried out Marlow’s solicitor said she was going through a difficult period in her life.

She was suffering due to the breakdown of her marriage as well as experiencing issues with her immediate family members.

However she accepted full responsibility for her actions.

Marlow herself pointed out loopholes in how the credit card could be used without following the university’s conditions at the very same time she was making the transactions.

Sentencing, Sheriff Fleming said: “This was a serious matter – a senior member of staff embezzling a lot of money over a four-year period.

“She had the opportunity to think long and hard about the people she was embezzling from and she also took a promotion during this time.”

Marlow was sentenced to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work.

The date for a proceeds of crime hearing relating to the amount she embezzled was set for September 20 this year.