A woman who embezzled £40,500 from elderly and vulnerable care home residents has avoided jail.
Tracey Hill or Seivwright, 45, took cash from residents’ bank accounts over the course of around two-and-a-half years while she was employed as administrator of Banff Care Home.
The home, owned by Dawnside Developments, reimbursed the money to residents.
Seivwright has now been ordered to repay the firm.
Sheriff Andrew Miller told her: “You accept, by your plea of guilty, that by abusing a position of trust you held as an employee of the operators of the care home you embezzled the sum of £40,500 over a period of around two years and four months.
“This is not an offence that was committed in the spur of the moment. It was really a course of conduct on your part, over a significant period of time, during which you not only abused the trust of your employers, it appears you targeted particularly vulnerable adults who were clearly also dependent on you and other employees of the care home for their general care and welfare.”
He ordered her to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work and made a compensation order for £37,500, £3,000 having already been repaid by Seivwright.
She was also handed a six-month supervision order.
The sentence was imposed as a direct alternative to imprisonment.
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Depute Fiscal Colin Neilson told the court Seivwright was responsible for managing residents’ finances as part of her role at the home.
He said the firm realised Seivwright was in financial trouble when they received a letter regarding arrest of her wages.
An audit was then carried out and “discrepancies quickly became apparent”.
When questioned by bosses she was “unable to provide an explanation” and resigned on March 24 2016.
Seivwright, of Causewayend Crescent, Aberchirder, previously pled guilty to embezzlement between December 1 2013 and March 25 2016.
Defence agent Liam Mcallister said: “Ms Seivwright is a 45-year-old who up to this point has never troubled these courts previously.
“She has led a productive life contributing to her local community to a significant extent and raising three children.
“Her conduct during the libel period, in her own words, is utterly shameful.
“She is disgusted she finds herself for the first time before your lordship in this court and she is disgusted with what she has done.”
He added: “Really it was a case of Ms Seivwright not opening up and advising family and friends the extent of which the family business was under significant pressure and hoping she could just deal with this in her way, that it could be rectified.
“Before she knew it things were escalating and spiralling down to a terrible extent.”
Following the hearing, Ally Donaldson, director of Dawnside Developments, said: “We are pleased that this matter is finally over after what has been a difficult time for all concerned at Banff Care Home.
“We are now looking forward to getting back to normal and continuing to provide the best possible care for all our residents.”
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