Former oil executive jailed for embezzlement

A former oil company executive has been jailed for over three years for stealing more than £1.3 million from her employers

Jacqueline McPhie, 46, pocketed a total of £1,376,935 whilst working as the Vice President for Finance at Altus.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard on Tuesday how the business woman felt her £146,848 per year wage wasn't enough to provide her family with a comfortable lifestyle.

The court also heard that McPhie also felt "undervalued" by her bosses.

McPhie - who was convicted of stealing £250,000 from her old job 16 years ago - concocted a complicated financial scam.

She spent £80,000 buying a Range Rover Sport car.

She also splurged between £60,000 to £70,000 on a new garage and driveway and £30,000 on a "bespoke" summer house in her garden.

McPhie also liked to cook more than her company's books. She splashed out £52,000 on a new kitchen for her home.

McPhie the rest of the cash on fancy foreign holidays and designer clothes.

McPhie, who currently lives with her parents in a caravan in Arbroath, is currently embroiled in a bitter divorce battle.

Defence advocate Tony Lenehan told judge Lady Wise that his client was "very unhappy" at the time of her offending behaviour.

Speaking as his client sat in the dock weeping and holding her head in her hands, Mr Lenehan added: "She was in a very unhappy relationship. She feels that she was placed under pressure to provide wealth for her family unit.

"She found that she secured happiness in her relationship by providing material wealth to her family unit. She was the main source of income.

"Her husband's company did not make much money. She also felt that she was undervalued by her company.

"Her decision making abilities were not at the strongest at this time. She then decided to undertake the scheme which has placed her in the court today."

However, Lady Wise jailed McPhie for three years and four months.

She said: "You are 46-years-old and had what many people would regard as an enviable existence.

"You enjoyed a salary of almost £150,000 per annum, you were married with a child, your husband also had work.

"Your motivation can only have been greed, to have even more material wealth than your position allowed you to accrue.

"There is in my view no alternative but to impose a custodial sentence on this occasion."

The story emerged in May 2016 after McPhie pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzlement before judge Lady Wise. Sentence had been deferred for the court to obtain reports.

During earlier proceedings, Scotland's second most senior prosecutor, the Solicitor General Alison Di Rollo, told the court that McPhie had one previous conviction for embezzlement.

She was given community service and probation in October 2000 after pleading guilty at Paisley Sheriff Court.

On that occasion, she took a quarter of a million pounds whilst working as a finance manager with Inchinnan based Inventec over a seven day period in 1999.

McPhie, who was then living in Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, was also charged with embezzling £20,000 in April 1997 whilst employed as finance manager with Greenock based Chicony Electronics Litmited.

However, she pleaded not guilty to that charge and prosecutors dropped the allegation.

However, McPhie didn't learn her lesson from her conviction.

She started working for Altus in Aberdeen.

Ms Di Rollo told the court that McPhie had full "oversight" over the company's finances and had the trust of bosses.

Ms Di Rollo added: "The accused's role as VP finance entailed her supervising the finance team, consisting of two finance managers, eight account assistants and a number of cost and credit controllers.

"She had control of monies for the company's operations in the UK and West Africa.

With responsibility for producing management accounts, she had full oversight of the company's financial performance and reported costs, revenues and turnover on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis to the managing director and the parent company in Norway.

"She had autonomy over approval of invoices received for payment with full access to company bank accounts.

"She enjoyed a high degree of responsibility within the company and was in a position of considerable trust."

The court heard that McPhie's husband was the sole director of a company called Craigie Knowe Limited, a contractor's firm which was registered to the family's home in Aberdeen's Great Western Road.

Ms Di Rollo said that McPhie had "full access" to the company's bank accounts and was a signatory to them.

The court heard that McPhie's husband had nothing to do with his wife's antics.

The court heard that McPhie then started using her husband's company to carry out the frauds.

But detectives discovered that she had faked invoices and had also faked emails from senior Altus Intervention staff which authorised payments to McPhie.

The court heard that police then detained McPhie on June 2 2014. She confessed to what she had done on her way to Aberdeen's police HQ.

The court also heard that Altus had managed to recover £238,701.90 from McPhee.

On Tuesday, Mr Lenehan asked Lady Wise to show leniency to McPhie.

He said that her father had an "untreatable blood clot next to his heart."

Mr Lenehan added: "It is not unrealistic then by the time she is released from prison he may no longer be here. She is acutely aware of this and would like to assist in the process of caring for him."

However, Lady Wise said she had no other option but to send McPhie to prison.

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