Jailed, bookkeeper who stole £90,000 to fund £700-a-day bets habit
A BOOKKEEPER who took £90,000 from a construction firm to fund a gambling habit has been jailed for 28 months.
Andrea Cochrane, 52, was company secretary for more than 30 years but stole to fund a £700-a-day addiction.
She was fired after bosses at A Steel & Son Contractors in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, discovered a string of bogus payments. After an initial sum of £2,500 had been queried, a review discovered £28,000 had been paid to an accountancy firm when it should have been only £10,000.
Investigations revealed Cochrane had labelled a series of high-value transactions as ‘Turner Accountancy’ but had used her own account details to pocket the cash.
Cochrane, of Bellshill, Lanarkshire, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted embezzling £90,000 between January and July 2019.
She was jailed by Sheriff John Speir, who said he was left with no alternative but to put her behind bars.
The court had heard Cochrane was trying to sell her house to repay her former employer but was unable to find the funds.
A victim impact statement from the firm said Cochrane had left other employees fearing for their jobs by telling them the company was in a dire financial situation.
It added that the company was struggling due to her greed and the impact of the pandemic on business.
Outside court, Amy Steel, who uncovered the fraud, said: ‘Justice has been served. We know we’re not getting money back from her and have written it off. But at last she is going to pay for what she has done to us.’
Campbell Steel, whose father established the firm, said: ‘She was like one of the family. We were at weddings and birthdays with her and would invite her to events we were having and she threw it back in our faces after 34 years.
‘We are speaking out now because of the serious harm she caused to our business to the point there nearly wasn’t a business left at all because she was helping herself.’
Sheriff Speir said: ‘I fully account for the remorse you have shown.
‘This involved a great deal of planning and premeditation and the harm your actions caused is still being felt, and the business carries on by the skin of its teeth.’