A Ross-shire bank teller embezzled £42,000 from his employers and then gambled it all away over a couple of months.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that 30-year-old Ross Jackson, from Gairloch, had got into so much debt he pocketed cash totalling £17,000 and banked it in various branches including Inverness and Dingwall.
But when he lost that, he transferred another £25,000 into his own bank account at the Bank of Scotland in the Wester Ross village where he worked.
The court heard he hoped he would win enough with the second injection of cash to repay the bank.
As that was against the bank’s policy, his dishonesty was quickly discovered and further checks revealed he had been taking cash from bank bags but recording a different figure in the paperwork to cover up the embezzlement.
Yesterday at Inverness Sheriff Court, Jackson admitted the offence committed between February last year and March 15 last year and sentence was deferred until September 24 for a background report.
Jackson’s bail was continued by Sheriff Margaret Neilson.
Defence solicitor Duncan Henderson said a family member had since repaid the entire outstanding amount.
Fiscal depute Alex Swain said the bank investigated Jackson’s personal financial situation and discovered his monthly repayments were about the equivalent of what he earned and he had virtually nothing left for everyday living expenses.
He also owed £6,000 to credit card companies.
The court heard that, when questioned, Jackson admitted that his debts had snowballed and he gambled in the hope of repaying the money he took from his winnings – but he continued to lose.