Jailed, medical centre boss who stole £155k during affair with GP
A WOMAN who stole £155,000 from a medical practice while having an affair with one of the doctors has been jailed.
Jacqueline Rodger, 55, had a relationship with Dr Iain Hathorn while employed as practice manager at the Greenhills Medical Practice.
The pair had been having regular trysts since 2011 but the affair ended when Rodger got married. The relationship was revealed after an investigation was launched into cash problems at the practice in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire.
Dr Hathorn admitted being in a ‘proper sexual affair’ with Rodger. The fraudster later claimed she had been forced into the relationship. However, a police investigation dismissed her allegations.
After the affair became public, Rodger, who claimed to have taken the money due to stress, told Dr Hathorn by text: ‘It was me that did it. I’m so sorry, so ashamed. You’re all such lovely people.’
A message sent to another doctor at the surgery said: ‘I am so sorry and ashamed of what I’ve done. You were all so good to me, I deserve everything that’s coming my way.’
A probe found that Rodger had moved money to her own account disguised as dozens of bogus payments to locum doctors and office supply firms. Rodger, of East Kilbride, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court where she admitted embezzling £155,012 between April 2014 and February 2018. The court heard the medical centre was forced to close after the cash was stolen.
Locking her up for 18 months, Sheriff Martin Jones, KC, told her there was no alternative to a prison sentence.
He said: ‘The harm you caused was significant and I do not consider a community based disposal would reflect the gravity of this offence.’
Rodger has launched civil proceedings against the medical practice claiming unfair dismissal and sexual harassment.
Speaking after the hearing, the former partners of Greenhills Medical Practice said: ‘We are delighted with the sentence and feel justice has been done...we just feel betrayed.
‘The practice dissolved after this and all of our patients had to go elsewhere which is a real shame for them – some had been with us for 25 years and if she hadn’t taken the money we would have taken on another partner.’
NHS Lanarkshire declined to comment.