Took £21k to gamble
A 27- year- old woman has been given 16 months in prison for embezzling £21,000 from the Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum, to fund her gambling addiction.
Claire Louise Whiteford had been promoted to team leader at the roadside retail outlet, before staff realised she had been stealing regular small amounts from the till over a period of two years.
A shop assistant with a gambling addiction embezzled £21,000 from the Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum.
Claire Whiteford, 27, was jailed for 16 months after she admitted stealing money from the till over a period of almost two years, and gambling up to £100 a day.
She pleaded guilty at Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday ( June 10) to stealing the money between October 7, 2011, and August 26, 2013, whilst an employee at the roadside retail outlet.
Fiscal Depute Ann Orr told the court that Whiteford had worked her way up to become a team leader at The Green Welly Stop before the crime was discovered.
She said the business had an old-fashioned till system, where two receipts were printed - one for the customer and another to go into the till. There was a ‘no sell’ button which would open the till drawer and staff would mark NS on the receipt along with their initials. Likewise there was codes marked on for refunds and for transactions which had been voided.
“On August 28, 2013 a member of staff was suspected of stealing money from the till as he was seen carrying a large quantity of cash.
“There was a valid explanation given, but further enquiries were carried out. On August 29 it was noticed that takings from the Bank Holiday Monday were lower than expected.
“An examination of receipts and the till roll found numerous anomalies with void, refund and no sale transactions.
“All had been endorsed by the accused.”
When police were called, Whiteford told them ‘Aye. I took the money’. She was interviewed on the basis that £ 744.48 was found to be missing at the time, and said she’d spent the cash on clothes and gambling.
A full review of the takings during Whiteford’s employment led to the discovery that £21,000 had gone.
Defence solicitor Martin Hughes told the court Whiteford had been raised by her grandparents, after her mother died when she was three. Her grandmother passed away when Whiteford was 18, and her grandfather had turned to drink. She dealt with her grief through gambling, and was in the throes of an addiction when moved to Crianlarich to start afresh, and took up a post at The Green Welly Stop in 2009.
“She thinks she was sometimes gambling up to £100 a day, taking money from the till two or three times a week,” he said.
He revealed her annual salary had been £ 18,000, and said she had not been funding a “champagne lifestyle” on the money embezzled. He revealed she had eradicated her addiction by going to Gamblers Anonymous. “It would appear
has been suffering from depression and anxiety for quite some time.”
He added that Whiteford, now of Inverewe Place, Dunfermline, had been out of work since her arrest and was unable to pay back the money.
Sheriff Charles McFarlane said: “Clearly there was premeditation. You told the author of the (criminal justice social work) report you had spotted a loophole in the financial procedures of the business and took the opportunity to use this.”
She thinks she was sometimes gambling up to £100 a day