PKAVS worker went to nightclub with charity donations in his pocket.

Man accused of embezzlement admits not taking money to safe location

A charity worker went to a nightclub with hundreds of pounds of donations in his pocket, a court has heard,

George McFarlane admitted to Perth Sheriff Court he had not taken the money to a safe location before going to the city’s Loft nightclub following a charity poker night.

But he denies embezzling the funds from Perth & Kinross Association of Voluntary Service (PKAVS), where McFarlane worked as a care service manager.

McFarlane, who is known by his middle name of Stewart, said he did not feel the need to secure the donations as he was sober at the time.

Asked by depute fiscal Lisa Marshall why he thought it was a good idea to continue carrying the money with him, he replied: “I wasn’t drunk and I had nowhere else to put it.”

The court heard from three people who had organised various poker tournaments in aid of PKAVS, each of which had raised between £400 and £1,600.

One organiser, Elaine Fitzpatrick, expressed her discomfort after McFarlane took the money.

She said: “I gave the money to a friend to give to any charity she wanted and she chose PKAVS. She handed it to Stewart and he rolled it up and put it in his pocket. After, I think he and his friends went into town for drinks.

“I didn’t like the way the money was handed over to him that night. I had hoped it would be presented with a big cheque.”

McFarlane also said when he came to hand in cash to the charity’s finance department, on occasions the finance assistant was not there to take the donation, he would leave it in her pigeon hole.

He said: “If she was there I would give her the money and say where it had come from and where it had to go to. If she wasn’t in I didn’t want the responsibility for that money in my office so I would put it in her pigeon hole, which is behind a security door.

“I had no part in financial procedures once the money had been handed in.”

McFarlane, of Stormont Road, Perth, denies embezzling £5,795.22 while working at PKAVS.

The offence is alleged to have taken place at the Glen Bar and elsewhere between November 27 2011 and June 1 2014.

The trial before Sheriff Gillian Wade continues.