Glasgow Mum speaks of torment after food bank embezzlement accusation
42-year old Julie Webster was cleared of taking cash from the food bank in Maryhill, which she helped set up
A Mum is speaking of her torment after finally being cleared of stealing £15,000 from a food bank. Julie Webster, 42, was said to have taken the cash from the food bank in Maryhill, Glasgow, which she helped set up.
She was finally cleared after vital paperwork was examined by prosecutors four days before she was due to go on trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
These showed that Julie had not taken any cash, but she is angry at how long it too the authorities to clear her name.
She was supported by her dad Jamie Webster - a former GMB union convenor - who saved Govan shipyard in 1999.
Julie fought back tears as she described the hell she suffered.
She was driven out of her home in Glasgow after being spat at in the street and having her home targeted by vandals.
Julie said “I almost miscarried, my partner had cancer and needed life-saving surgery. If it wasn’t for my mum and my dad, financially I would be broken.”
She added: “The two and a half years of my life that have been ruined, I’m never getting that back.”
The gran-of-one said people made false allegations about her abusing and neglecting her children, spat at her and targeted her house.
She said: “My family didn’t want me to leave, but I thought it would be best and packed up and left."
Her dad Jamie Webster said: "I'm hard-nosed after 50 years working in shipyards. The emphasis there was on never giving up. I knew Julie was innocent, but I became very disillusioned about what happened to her.
"When I watched where it took my daughter I said 'never do volunteer work again'. That's hard to say. Our family was at risk of disintegrating in front of us."
Julie helped start the foodbank in Maryhill in January 2013 before it closed in March 2016.
She worked 40 hours a week - 20 as a volunteer.
But, for the last five months of her contract, she went without pay after funding was pulled.
A police probe was then launched after an allegation was made that £15,000 was missing from the foodbank's accounts.
Julie said "We shut the doors at the end of March 2016 and I remember during the investigation the officer saying 'I know you've never been in trouble before this must be a heartbreaking day for you'.
"I said 'I'm not heartbroken. I was heartbroken the last day that foodbank's doors shut because there's going to be people queueing for food next week.
“'I put the first tin of beans on the shelves and I took the last tin of beans off.
“‘The only people that are going to miss out are the people of Maryhill and surrounding areas.
"I am innocent, I devoted three years of my life to that foodbank'."
Julie said she had no idea where the £15,000 figure came from.
Julie said: “I had an explanation but they weren't interested in explanations.
“They told me they arrested the foodbank bank accounts and I said there's no need, I've got all the paperwork."
She had been due to return to Glasgow Sheriff Court this week.
But, just days before the trial was due to start, a relieved Julie got a call from her solicitor Lyndsay Gaughan.
Julie said: “She phoned and told me the charges had been dropped. I was delighted."
The mum also believes she has since missed out on job due to the charges hanging over her.