A director with an Aberdeen engineering firm has hit out at the “betrayal” of their office manager, who embezzled £30,000 and then went on an Amazon spending spree.
Nicola Milne swindled tens of thousands of pounds from family firm James Aiken Engineering Solutions on Woodside Road while employed there in 2021.
The 38-year-old mum, who had worked at the company for nine years and was thought of as a “best pal” by bosses, abused her role and the company credit card to steal cash.
Milne breached the trust placed in her to pay herself double wages, book weekends away and enjoy meals at top hotels.
One of the company’s directors, Neil Jolly, has spoken out about the “horrific” betrayal as his former employee as she appeared in Aberdeen Sheriff Court and pled guilty to embezzling £30,836.06 from the family firm between March 23 and November 12 2021.
He said: “It was devastating for us.
“She worked with us for many years. She had a big responsibility in the business and a lot of trust from myself and the other director.
“She was in control of the company credit card and doing the wages. It was a big position of trust.
‘She was getting more devious’
“We’re not the biggest company in the world, we have 26 staff.
“I’ve known Nicole for the nine years she was here – we just never saw it coming.”
Neil explained how the offence first came to light.
He said: “We discovered this because the credit card statement came in but Nicole was always very secretive about it.
“On this occasion, the credit card statement came in but she was off on holiday.”
Neil said they opened the statement and spotted a £155 charge for Malmaison Hotel which was “unusual”.
He continued: “A few weeks before, Nicola had mentioned she was going there with her partner for a birthday meal and overnight stay.
“We looked at each other and said ‘wait a minute, we know where this has come from’.”
On further examination of the credit card statements, they discovered “lots and lots and lots” of transactions which did not fit in with the business.
‘Betrayal in every sense of the word’
Neil said that, when challenged, Milne denied any knowledge of the payments and suggested she had perhaps used the card “in error” on occasion.
He said: “She was paying herself double wages if we had a particularly good month.
“There was a lot of scheming going on. She was looking at different ways of hiding money.
“She was getting more devious.
“She was buying furniture for her house, clothes, Deliveroo, Just Eat, shopping at M&S, getting pizzas delivered, anything she could get, a weekend away down in Glasgow, a divorce settlement.
“It was quite horrific.
“She was probably one of Amazon’s biggest customers.”
He added: “All this was done during Covid when we had people on furlough. Those guys were losing wages.
‘Clearly the company require to be compensated’
“We were gutted, absolutely gutted, truly astonished. She was like a best pal.
“It was 100% pure betrayal, a pure lack of respect. Betrayal in every sense of the word.”
Milne, of Mundurno Road, Bridge of Don, is now hoping to sell her home to pay back the money she took.
Defence agent Gregor Kelly told Aberdeen Sheriff Court: “There is a realistic prospect of repayment here.
“Her house is being marketed and it does appear there’s some degree of optimism.
“Marking is ongoing in a fairly aggressive manner.
“Clearly the company require to be compensated.”
Milne’s three-bedroom home is currently listed online for offers over £198,000.
Mr Kelly added that his client, a mum-of-two, appeared with no previous convictions.
Sheriff Gareth Jones deferred sentence until September in the first instance to allow Milne time to sell her home and repay the embezzled funds.
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