A bakery manager who embezzled almost £100,000 to fund her gambling addiction has avoided jail after it emerged she’d been on meds which made her “impulsive” and “disinhibited”.
Nicola Smith, or Thomson, had been working at Kindness Bakers on Main Street, New Deer, since 2007, and worked her way up to store manager where she was trusted with the day-to-day bookkeeping.
But in 2017 she began taking advantage of her position and used the bakery’s PayPoint terminal, which lets customers purchase vouchers for phone and utility top-ups, to obtain pre-paid vouchers without running them through the till.
Over the course of five months, the 47-year-old embezzled £95,000 of the vouchers, which she redeemed on gambling website Jackpotjoy.
Thomson previously pled guilty to a charge of embezzlement and has now appeared back in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to be sentenced.
The court debated the issue of whether the £95,000 would have been a loss to the bakery or the PayPoint company behind the machine, and concluded it would be the latter.
Defence agent Sam Milligan said his client was a first-offender and fully accepted her guilt.
‘No doubt that did play a role in what you did’
The court heard Thomson – who arrived at court with a holdall – had been on prescribed medication which had side effects including causing impulsive, irrational and disinhibited behaviour.
Sheriff Graham Buchanan told Thomson, of Burnside Road, Mintlaw: “I sense you came along here today expecting to receive a prison sentence. Usually, people that come with bags are not expecting to be going home.
“It was plain from the terms of the social work report you have not had your troubles to seek for a variety of reasons, including health issues which led to the prescription of certain drugs, which I’m told by medical people can have side effects leading to impulsive, irrational behaviour and disinhibited behaviour.
“I have no doubt that did play a role in what you did here.
“I’m clear now there is no loss of any significance to the bakers for whom you worked. It seems, rather, it was the company that supplied this machine in the shop which has born the loss.
“I have reached the conclusion, in all the circumstances, I can’t be satisfied this is a case where only a custodial sentence would be appropriate.”
The sheriff handed her 300 hours of unpaid work and a two-year supervision order as a direct alternative to custody.
Fiscal depute Christy Ward previously told Aberdeen Sheriff Court: “From September 2017, various members of staff noticed that the accused was using the PayPoint terminal when no customers were in the shop.
“They saw that she used the terminal several times throughout every shift, printing out the receipts and vouchers but without placing copies in the till as per company protocol.
“It was also noted that the accused would attend at the shop when she was not working and use the PayPoint terminal.”
Accountant spotted discrepancies
One member of staff checked the history on the terminal and discovered a number of daily transactions of £50 to £200 to PaysafeCard UK, a pre-paid payment method that can be used online to make payments without entering personal details.
The member of staff reported the concerns to management who checked the accounting system but found no discrepancies.
On October 15 2017, the shop closed, with most staff relocating to other branches.
Thomson was asked to continue on to help with the winding up of the shop, while an accountancy firm was instructed to review the accounts.
On January 16 2018 the accountant contacted the company director to advise of possible discrepancies in the PayPoint figures.
The following week the accountant attended and obtained a printout of the terminal record between January 2 2017 and January 31 2018.
Thomson deposited £95k and withdrew £32k
Ms Ward said: “This showed that there were transactions totalling £95,000 to PaysafeCard UK from the terminal, and further checks showed that the transactions had not been declared through the till system.”
More than £27,600 had been processed through the terminal between October 15 2017 and January 23 2018, when the shop had been closed for business.
When confronted by the director, Thomson “apologised and said she had become addicted to online gambling”.
The matter was reported to police.
Subsequent investigations revealed Thomson had been redeeming the vouchers on gambling website Jackpotjoy. During the period of the offence, she deposited £95,000 and withdrew £32,000.
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