Glasgow housing officer jailed

A housing officer who pocketed more than £51,000 from two pensioners has been jailed for 16 months.

Jamie Ratcliffe, 25, stole personal information from 69-year-old Evelyn Harkness and 92-year-old Anne Vaughan to access their bank accounts.

Over the space of two months he transferred £51,882 from their accounts into his own bank, without them knowing.

But, he was caught when the women - both tenants of Glasgow Housing Association - spoke with their banks and one OAP was told she had no money in her account.

Ratcliffe, from Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire pled guilty to carrying out the fraud between February 1 and March 27.

He admitted that on various occasions he visited and contacted the women and stole a bank card and personal information.

Devious Ratcliffe then set up access from the pensioners’ accounts to his own and transferred money.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court, sheriff Johanna Johnston QC jailed Ratcliffe for 16 months for his crime.

The court heard one woman was told there was no money in her account, and the other was made aware of several high value withdrawals that she knew nothing about.

Moira Orr, Procurator Fiscal for Glasgow, said: “As a housing officer, Jamie Ratcliffe’s primary role was to assist those in need.

“Instead of doing so he abused that position in the most dreadful way and stole large sums of money from his vulnerable victims.

“Crimes of this nature are treated extremely seriously by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and anyone who believes they have evidence of such offences should have the confidence to come forward and report it to the police.