Bank boss spared jail after stealing £120k from OAP
A BANK manager who stole more than £120,000 from a pensioner’s account has been spared jail.
Ann Marie McCafferty, 36, was employed in a senior role at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
But she emptied funds from an account belonging to Christopher McGuire, 79. Her deception was only uncovered when he asked for a print-out of a bank statement and was told he had only £8,000 in his account. An investigation revealed that £123,634 had been removed.
He told employees at the bank that he had been served by the branch manager and remembered her second name was McCafferty.
It emerged McCafferty, who had responsibility for cash at the branch in Shotts, Lanarkshire, had removed money from the ATM machine and replaced it with money from Mr McGuire’s account in a bid to hide her stealing.
A probe by RBS found she had forged signatures of employees and faked transactions while she put money into her account and one owned by her former partner.
McCafferty, who was on holiday when the fraud was uncovered, was sent a text message asking if she knew where the money had gone. She replied: ‘Sorry I’m at the beach, bad reception. Can’t think, sorry.’ McCafferty, of Shotts, appeared at HamilSheriff ton Sheriff Court and admitted embezzling money in July 2018.
Sheriff Thomas Millar spared the first offender jail and ordered her to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.
The court heard Mr McGuire had all of the stolen money repaid to his account by RBS. Mother-of-one McCafferty is trying to repay £90,000 to the bank.
Mr McGuire and his daughter wrote a victim impact statement to the court which stated he had lost confidence in himself because he believed the loss of money was his fault.
But both expressed a wish not to see McCafferty jailed for the gross breach of trust.
‘Under pressure and stress’
Millar said: ‘It is clear from the reports that prior to this offence you led a very ordinary, honest and hard-working life but were subject to domestic violence for some time and were under serious pressure and stress. I do not think incarceration would benefit anyone in this case.’
Prosecutors have launched proceeds of crime proceedings against McCafferty.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Jamie Greene said: ‘Whilst in this case the sentencing decision was clearly one based on the perpetrator’s own unfortunate circumstances, the Scottish Conservatives are more generally calling for tougher sentences for criminals who target vulnerable people.’