Jail for woman who conned Tories

Janet Perrie had previous convictions for fraud and embezzlement

A woman who embezzled more than £130,000 from the Scottish Conservative Party has been jailed for 22 months.

Janet Perrie was employed as a political assistant and put in charge of the expense accounts at the party's headquarters in Edinburgh.

She pled guilty to embezzling £131,467 between January 2006 and October 2007.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that the 54-year-old, from Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, had previous convictions for fraud and embezzlement.

Perrie wrote more than 30 cheques to herself over a two-year period, but her crimes went unnoticed until after she had left.

Sheriff Neil Mackinnon told her: "In some respects this is a sad case. Both you and your husband have health issues and you wished to secure a better life for your husband.

Somewhere along the lines it would appear that nobody carried out any background checks on her previous convictions John Kirk Fiscal depute

"You betrayed the trust of those who expected you to carry out your duties honestly and diligently.

"Due to the seriousness of this matter and your history of offending, a custodial disposal is appropriate."

Perrie was hired in July 2005 through employment agency Crossmatch, and her services were given to the Conservative Party as a "donation in kind" by Dunalastair Estates.

She forged signatures and faked the cheque stubs on dozens of cheques as she handled the party expense claims at the Princes Street office.

She left the job in October 2007 and a month later the party requested two cheques back from the bank for an unconnected matter.

Previous convictions

It was discovered that they had been made out to Perrie directly.

She was originally charged with defrauding the party of almost £150,000 but her guilty plea to the lesser amount was accepted by the Crown.

It emerged she had previous convictions for fraud and embezzlement.

Fiscal depute John Kirk, prosecuting, said: "Somewhere along the lines it would appear that nobody carried out any background checks on her previous convictions.

"Had anyone known about them I doubt if she would have been employed in the role that she was."

She's genuinely ashamed and remorseful for her behaviour over this period Cameron Tait Defence lawyer

Her solicitor, Cameron Tait, said Perrie had carried out the fraud in a bid to improve the standard of living for her family.

He said her husband had chronic long-term alcohol problems and their marriage had become very unhappy, with Perrie suffering physical and verbal abuse.

"The majority of the money she had taken she had used to spend on holidays and other extras to genuinely try and give them a much higher standard of living in the vain hope this would motivate her husband to stop drinking," said Mr Tait.

"This was ill-advised and stupid and she displayed extremely poor judgement.

"She's genuinely ashamed and remorseful for her behaviour over this period."

He said she was being treated for an ongoing heart problems, unexplained black-outs and depression.