A mum who embezzled almost £10,000 from an Aberdeen school will have to wait to learn her fate after a sheriff ordered her to find some way of paying back the stolen cash.
Nicola Low was due to be sentenced yesterday having previously admitted taking £9,620 from a fund set up to buy play equipment for the children who attend Mile End primary.
The 47-year-old swindled the school over the course of more than a year when she was acting as treasurer of its parent-teacher association.
Sheriff William Taylor deferred sentence again yesterday after the Crown moved for a proceeds of crime order to be granted against her to recover the cash.
Representing Low, who is also known as Hatrick, solicitor Graeme Morrison said his client was already going through the process of re-mortgaging her west end home and would be able to repay what she stole when the final procedures were in place.
The sheriff deferred sentence for two weeks to allow her time to get her finances together. He said he would sentence her when he was better informed about the likelihood of her being able to make a full repayment.
Low appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last month and admitted carrying out the embezzlement between August 8, 2011, and December 31, 2012.
Low, of 175 Mid Stocket Road, Aberdeen, was also accused of embezzling hundreds of pounds from the National Youth Choir of Scotland.
She was alleged to have taken £832.26 from the group while acting as its area coordinator between June 3 and December 1, 2013, however, fiscal depute Sandy Hutchison told the court her not guilty plea to this charge had been accepted by the Crown.
Members of the Mile End Primary PTA organise fundraising events throughout the course of the academic year.
The money predominantly goes towards items not normally provided by the city council, to improve children’s education, leisure and learning.
In the past the cash has funded trips and paid for interactive whiteboards, digital equipment, musical instruments and football strips.
Large sums of money were also donated to the project by oil companies in Aberdeen. It is understood this was the cash that Low took.
Earlier this year the 510-pupil school, which also caters for children with special needs, opened a £50,000 playground which helps able-bodied and disabled pupils to play together.