Berwick book-keeper who embezzled £17k from family firm avoids jail
Last updated 9th Oct 2023
A 42-year-old woman who embezzled more than £17,000 from a Berwickshire firm where she worked as a book-keeper has avoided a jail sentence.
Alyson Brown previously pled guilty to committing the offence while employed by the CA Ramsay Partnership at Pittlesheugh between March and May last year.
But Jedburgh Sheriff Court today (Monday) heard she has repaid most of the cash from an inheritance.
The spotlight first fell on Brown when it emerged some suppliers hadn't been paid, and she confirmed she had redirected payments of £9,460 to her own bank account.
Her employers, noting she was a single mum, gave her a chance to repay the cash before a more detailed audit revealed a total of £17,629 was missing, and police were called in.
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A not guilty plea to a separate charge of forming a fraudulent scheme to obtain £1,899 using the account of a former employer was accepted by the Crown.
Brown, of Marygate, Berwick - who is deemed a low-risk of reoffending - was made the subject of an 18-month Community Payback Order, with a supervision requirement.
Sheriff Peter Paterson said the sentence was a direct alternative to custody.
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