Former teacher who stole £9k from out-of-school club in Melrose is sentenced
Last updated 12th Jun 2023
A court's been hearing how a former teacher who embezzled thousands of pounds from an out-of-school club in the Borders was allowed to keep her job after confessing her crime to her employers and being let off with a formal warning.
Alison McWilliam - who has a previous conviction for embezzlement - was eventually suspended the following month after further transactions were discovered which could not be accounted for.
She stole more than £9,000 to fund a gambling addiction while working as a business manager at The Big Space at Melrose Primary School between July and August 2021.
Selkirk Sheriff Court today (Monday) heard the 62-year-old - who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer - has repaid about £2,000 and only has "two or three months" left to live.
Sheriff Mungo Bovey ordered McWilliam, who still owes £7,240, to repay the rest at a rate of £30 a month.
McWilliam, who gave an address in Selkirk, was previously sacked from her job as Modern Studies teacher at Kelso High School after embezzling more than £12,000 while treasurer of Duns Summer Festival - leaving them with just 18p in their bank account - in 2014.
At the time, she was sentenced to two years’ supervision and 200 hours of unpaid work.
Jedburgh Sheriff Court heard the then 55-year-old had cashed in her pension to pay back the sum she embezzled.
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