Bookkeeper siphoned off £200,000 from businesses
A bookkeeper is facing jail after embezzling £200,000 from a health company and one of the Stirling area’s best known fish and chip shops.
Jenny Lilly siphoned off £150,000 from the awardwinning Real Food Cafe in Tyndrum while employed as a book-keeper there between May 2011 and November 2015.
She also embezzled £50,000 between January 2015 and April 2016 while employed at Later Life Training in Killin.
At Stirling Sheriff Court this week the 45-year-old pleaded guilty on indictment to two charges of alleged embezzlement.
Her not guilty plea to a third charge – embezzling £5039 between July and the end of September 2016 while keeping the books for the Strathfillan Community Development Trust, based at Tyndrum Village Hall, was accepted by the prosecution.
Prosecutor Kyrsten Buist said the plea had been agreed with Lilly’s lawyer only on Tuesday, and an agreed narration of the facts was still to be prepared.
Sheriff William Gilchrist deferred sentence for a criminal justice social work report and continued bail.
He ordered Lilly, now of Brackley, Northamptonshire, to reappear in court on September 19 when she will also face action under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover her ill-gotten gains.
This year the Real Food Cafe was listed as one of Great Britain’s top 60 fish and chip shops in the National Fish and Chip Awards, and last year it was a winner in the Scottish Food Awards and Scotland’s Taste Our Best Awards.
A spokesperson for the cafe said: “What happened was a terrible betrayal of trust. We are proud that, in spite of the financial and emotional challenges associated with her actions, our business continues to thrive, serving an ever growing community of outdoor enthusiasts and visitors to the Highlands. We are glad that we found out in time to help other local business-owners limit or avoid damage to their businesses.”
Later Life Training is a not-for-profit provider of specialist exercise training for health and exercise professionals working with “older people, frailer older people and stroke survivors”.
The Strathfillan Community Development Trust, an offshoot of Strathfillan Community Council, carries out community projects in the Tyndrum and Crianlarich areas.