A former police officer turned bar manager has narrowly avoided jail after embezzling more than £27,000 to feed his gambling addiction.
Conor Summersgill pocketed the cash from Paramount by carrying out hundreds of fake refunds over the course of a year.
He was only caught out after another member of staff noticed he had refunded almost £2,000 in one night, and questioned what he was doing.
Following an internal investigation, bosses at the city centre bar discovered that between April 1, 2014 and February 7, 2015 he had embezzled a total of £27,760.
When confronted, the father-of-one – who was thousands of pounds in debt – immediately admitted what he had done.
Yesterday Summersgill appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to be sentenced, having been warned he faced jail when he admitted the offence earlier this month.
Defence agent Jamie Baxter said his client, who is originally from Inverurie, was “extremely remorseful for what he had done” and had already paid back £11,600.
Reading from the social work report, which had been prepared for the sentence, Mr Baxter said: “Mr Summersgill has nothing to show for his offence but debt, a criminal record and damaged personal relationships.”
He said his client had become addicted to online slot machines – a problem which had spiralled out of control.
The court heard that, in an attempt to feed his addiction and pay off a mounting credit card debt, he started to take the money from the bar.
Mr Baxter said the scheme was in no way sophisticated and that he merely used the refund button which was available to managers on the till.
And he became unable to control his gambling urges, Summersgill continued to take the money.
The court heard that when he was eventually caught out he told his partner, who is also the mother of his child, and that as a result their relationship broke down.
Mr Baxter said Summersgill moved in with his parents in Perth, who paid for him to attend specialist counselling in order to try to treat his addiction.
He said: “They viewed it as an illness, just like a drink or drugs addiction.”
The court heard that the 26-year-old had been doing well on the plan which had been put together for him.
However, he relapsed in December last year when his parents went away on holiday and left him alone with access to money and a laptop.
Mr Baxter said since then provisions had been put in place to ensure he has no control over his own cash.
Summersgill has also managed to secure a job as a skilled joiner and is earning around £300 a week.
The court heard from that, he repays £400 to his former employers and £340 towards repaying his credit card a month.
Sheriff William Summers said told Summersgill that ordinarily, someone who commits embezzlement over such a long period of time would be likely to go to jail.
But he acknowledged the young man had taken responsibility for his actions from the outset, and the effort he has put in to trying to rectify his behaviour, and said he felt the public interest would be served by imposing a community payback order.
He said: “This is a serious offence. It involved a large sum of money being taken in a relative sophisticated manner over a large period of time in a place where you were in a position of trust.
“You committed the crime while in the grip of a gambling addiction. It is clear you accepted responsibility for the offence from the very outset, even before the matter was prosecuted.
“You have agreed to repay the money. and since then you have repaid £11,600 and I am as confident as I can be that the rest will be paid off in due course.”
Summersgill, of West Brookglen Street, Stanley, Perth, was ordered to carry out 140 of unpaid work within the next year.
Speaking as he left court yesterday, Summersgill said he was “remorseful”.