The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Man jailed over ‘despicable’ £130,000 weddings fraud
Manager stole cash to feed his gambling
A hotel manager who conned bridal parties out of £130,000 before fleeing to Ibiza has been jailed.
Craig Williamson, 42, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison when he appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court yesterday.
Williamson defrauded as many as 39 couples over a two-year period, convincing them to hand over thousands of pounds to book their Guthrie Castle weddings through him.
Williamson, 42, a prisoner at HMP Perth, pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of fraud committed between July 16 2015 and April 2017.
He was sentenced to 45 months in prison, reduced to 30 in light of his early guilty plea, backdated to May 9.
While the unsuspecting couples thought they were planning their dream nuptials, Williamson was pocketing their money to feed his gambling habit, sometimes spending as much as £5,000 per day.
The thief, who had worked in the hotel industry for more than 20 years, was able to commit his crimes in his role as estate manager at the castle, near Forfar, trusted by his employers to secure and manage five-figure bookings.
He was only caught when he failed to return to work after a two-week period, arousing the suspicions of his colleagues, who accessed his email account and uncovered the scale of his deceit.
A missing person inquiry was launched and it was established he had withdrawn £6,000 in cash on April 4 and boarded a Eurostar to Paris that day before travelling to Ibiza on April 25.
He handed himself into police in Dundee on May 8 after news of the fraud broke.
Williamson’s solicitor, Billy Rennie, told the court: “He is resigned to his fate and knew it would not be resolved without a guilty plea and a period in prison.
“Any suggestion in the report of a lack of empathy is because he is resigned to his fate. He has been very realistic of the consequences of his actions.
“Mr Williamson worked in the hotel industry for more than 20 years and there have been no previous incidents of this nature whatsoever.
“He does have a gambling addiction which led to the initial temptation. Losses arose and that is how he ended up in this sorry mess.”
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael told Williamson he had committed a despicable crime.
He said: “You do not have any previous convictions and you pleaded guilty at an early stage, which I will take into account.
“This crime only came to light when you absented from your work.
“You concealed this fraud for two years. The fraud was despicable, taking money in good faith from the 39 bridal parties involved.
“The owners of the castle have recompensed some of the parties and they have now stopped taking bookings after December 2017.
“Jobs have been lost, as well as trust between local suppliers and the castle.”