Facing jail, the ‘trusted’ Red Cross worker who embezzled £360,000
A FINANCE worker embezzled more than £350,000 from the British Red Cross, claiming she was sending cash to former delegates and staff.
Mary Booth was a ‘trusted and valued’ employee of the charity for 34 years and initially worked at its headquarters in London.
She earned £45,000 per year as payroll manager and retired with a full pension and lump sum after working at the charity’s office in Paisley, Renfrewshire.
At Paisley Sheriff Court yesterday, the 56-year-old pleaded guilty to embezzling £359,551 between November 1, 2008, and August 31, 2015.
Booth, of Croydon, South London, is now facing jail and may have to sell her £350,000 home to pay back the money.
The court heard that in 2008 the charity’s payroll staff relocated from London to the Scots town.
Procurator fiscal depute Scot Dignan said: ‘The accused was payroll manager during this time and was in a position of trust. She retired in August 2015.’
Booth had access to the charity’s bank accounts and BACS electronic payment system, allowing her to send money to herself.
Her crime came to light in 2016 when irregularities in payments from the previous year were spotted by charity staff.
The court heard that Booth transferred £13,500 in the name of Roxanda Tanase, a Romanian delegate, and then £19,622 in the name of Alan Farr, a British Red Cross employee who died in late 2014, into her own accounts.
She used the names of several other employees and delegates to make further payments.
When the irregularities were found, the British Red Cross had the bank accounts into which the money had been paid frozen.
Booth then emailed the charity and asked it to lift the freeze on her TSB and Natwest accounts saying she would ‘make an agreement regarding any missing money’.
The matter was reported to Police Scotland and the Forensic Investigation Unit was called in.
Booth was later interviewed at her London home and admitted her guilt.
Defence solicitor Jonathan Manson said ‘the most important thing in this case is to find a way the British Red Cross can be reimbursed’. He said Booth could get £250,000 from the sale of her £350,000 home and had a further £64,000 in the bank she could give to the charity. Mr Manson admitted it had been ‘a hamfisted plot’ and a ‘flagrant abuse of her position of trust’.
He said that Booth used the money to fund a gambling habit. Her financial position had worsened after ‘a fairly acrimonious divorce’. He added: ‘She tried it (embezzling cash) once and got away with it, and it then simply got out of hand. She was shocked and appalled at the figure actually taken – she had no idea.’
Sheriff Seith Ireland called for background reports ahead of sentencing and adjourned the case until next month.
Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Red Cross, said: ‘We were devastated to discover that a long-serving employee in a position of trust had defrauded us. Every day we strive to help some of the most vulnerable people in the UK and overseas and for our trust to be abused in this way is really, really disappointing.
‘This member of staff operated with our trust and that has given us cause to think long and hard about how we tighten up our procedures. We have put robust measures in place to prevent this from ever happening again.’
‘She was in a position of trust’