A woman who stole over £1,000 from her 89-year-old disabled grandfather’s funeral fund is facing a jail sentence.
Pamela Scrimgeour was remanded in custody yesterday at Inverness Sheriff Court by a disgusted Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood who told her: “I suppose there is no such thing as a nice crime, but on a crime scale of 1-10, this comes pretty high.”
He was told that Scrimgeour stole the cash despite her grandfather gifting her money to pay her rent.
Fiscal depute Ross Carvel told the court that Scrimgeour’s grandfather kept the money for his funeral in a taped-up tin which was locked in a cupboard of his home.
“There were two keys to open it, one in his wallet and the other with his daughter, Mary, Pamela Scrimgeour’s mother.
“There was a period of time that Scrimgeour was in the house and she had her grandfather’s wallet. She had also been in the cupboard where the tin was kept and she was asked by her grandfather what she was doing.
“She said she was looking for a Bible, but the truth being that she was removing money. There was around £9,000 in the tin and when it became clear that some of the money had been removed, the police were informed.”
Mr Carvel said the 31-year-old, of High Street, Kingussie, had stolen a total of £1,140. Scrimgeour admitted a charge of theft which occurred between March 7 and March 12, last year.
Sheriff Fleetwood deferred sentence for a background report until October 17.
Defence solicitor Patrick O’Dea said his client had a drugs problem which had “robbed her of a lot of her faculties”.