Bank boss jailed for taking cash

Carol Barclay has been sentenced to 13 months in jail

A "hard working" assistant bank manager at HBOS has been jailed for 13 months for taking £31,000 from customer accounts in Edinburgh.

Carol Barclay, 45, of Kinghorn, Fife, embezzled the cash from customers after she got into financial problems.

Barclay was working at the Gyle Shopping centre branch in Edinburgh when she stole the money between October 2006 and September 2007.

She pleaded guilty earlier this month to embezzlement.

It was one of her victims, an elderly man, who noticed thousands of pounds was missing from his account and alerted the bank.

It seems to me that there is no option but to impose a custodial sentence here Sheriff Alistair Noble Edinburgh Sheriff Court

Sheriff Alistair Noble said he had no option but to jail her, despite good background reports and a letter from her new employer.

"I have a letter from your current employers who are extremely impressed with you and the social inquiry report is a good one," said the sheriff.

"The difficulty is the seriousness of the offence.

"You were assistant bank manager of the branch and in the course of your employment you embezzled over £30,000.

"That involves a serious breach of trust.

"It seems to me that there is no option but to impose a custodial sentence here."

Barclay had been accused of stealing £42,300 but prosecutors accepted her guilty plea to the lesser amount.

The court was told her scam came to light when investigators began looking into the pensioner's claim in July 2007.

A few days after investigations began, the money reappeared in the customer's account and the bank's fraud team realised an employee was responsible.

The transaction was traced to Barclay, who confessed when confronted by senior colleagues.

She was suspended from her job and police were called in.

It was discovered she had fraudulently carried out numerous transactions on the pensioner's account and had also made two fraudulent transactions on accounts belonging to another customer.

'Fully compensated'

She tried to cover up the theft by transferring the money into a false account she had created.

Solicitor Mark Hutchison, defending, said HBOS had fully compensated the customers and Barclay was trying to repay the money but had been unsuccessful in securing a loan or accessing equity on her house due to the current economic crisis.

She had also lost out on a pension from the bank because of her actions, said her lawyer.

He told the court Barclay had been in charge of the family finances and had got into financial problems after overspending.

"She was clearly a hard working woman up until this juncture," said Mr Hutchison.

"Although not living an extravagant lifestyle she began to overspend and got into difficulties.

"She was working very, very hard under pressure from her employers always to succeed.

"She took this course of action which was disastrous for her and others.

"Its a serious breach of trust, clearly," he added.