A mother who embezzled more than £13,000 from an Inverness playgroup and a toddlers group was told she will be jailed if she misses another repayment.
Michelle Bird, of 31 Towerhill Place, Inverness, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday after failing to pay £250 as part of a reimbursement plan put in place.
Last week she was arrested on warrant and appeared from custody, making a tearful promise to pay the money within a week.
Yesterday her solicitor Pauline Chapman produced a receipt for the cash.
She added: “She will now be paying £60 a week. She didn’t have the money last month and buried her head in the sand. She was frightened about what would happen but knew it wouldn’t go away.
“She fully understands she must keep up the payments and last week’s experience of being arrested and being kept in custody was a salutary one for her, and one she does not wish to repeat.”
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood deferred sentence for another six months to review her progress after being told that more than £10,000 was still outstanding.
He told her: “If you don’t keep up the payments, then it is unfortunate for the playgroup and the toddler’s group as they will have to forget the money because you will be going to jail.”
Last May, Bird admitted embezzling more than £13,000 from Cradlehall Playgroup and Tiny Tykes of Inverness over a three-year period while she was treasurer of both between January 2008 and April 2011.
Mrs Chapman said Bird had volunteered to be treasurer to both groups despite having no qualifications. She had to pay staff wages, tax and national insurance as well as settle bills and keep the accounts up to date.
Both groups have survived despite the huge loss.
Forensic accountants decided that the original £30,000 sum alleged to have been embezzled was excessive and defence and prosecution agreed on “a sum in excess of £13,000”.
The court was told that Bird paid herself £190 a month for her duties with Cradlehall Playgroup.
But fiscal depute Andrew Laing said that after she forged a signature on a bank form to enable her to withdraw cash and sign cheques on her own in February 2008, without the committee’s knowledge, she took cash, did transfers and made cheques out to herself and her now estranged husband.
Bird then took on a second treasurer’s job with Tiny Tykes and embezzled money from them.
Mr Laing said: “Both groups thought they were in good financial health. Their income was derived from fundraising, local authority grants and parents’ fees.
“However, Cradlehall was left with only £1,755 in the bank and Tiny Tykes with just £12. HMRC are now pursuing Cradlehall for £6,746 of unpaid tax and national insurance which should have been paid for the staff.”