A BANK worker who stole £44,000 from the branch where she worked has been spared jail so she can care for her son.
Natalee Gilmour, 33, was employed by the Bank of Scotland in Carluke, Lanarkshire, as a customer service assistant.
Her duties included counting cash but she carried out the work unsupervised and helped herself to money that was rejected by a counting machine.
Brazen Gilmour, who had worked at the bank for a decade, deposited the money into her own account but a probe was launched after bosses noticed large sums were missing.
The investigation focused on mum-of-one Gilmour and it was discovered she
When arrested she replied: “I know how this looks.”
Gilmour, of Hamilton, Lanarkshire, appeared at Lanark Sheriff Court and admitted embezzlement.
Sheriff Siobhan Connelly ordered her to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work and tagged her for six months while she will also be under supervision for two years.
The court heard Gilmour handed over almost £19,000 from her pension to compensate the bank.
Depute fiscal Flora McCamley told the court Gilmour had used her trusted role to pocket cash.
She said: “She was employed as a customer service assistant but the bank manager saw potential in her and allowed her to carry out duties with more responsibility and to carry out these duties unsupervised.
“Between October 2017 and March 2018 she performed, on an unofficial basis, assistant managerial duties at the bank.”
The prosecutor added: “In spring 2018, the manager began to notice that large sums of cash were missing and unaccounted for, so they notified their superiors, and an internal investigation was commenced.
“Police gained access to her bank accounts and it showed deposits which could not be explained.
“She was subsequently interviewed but had no explanation for these large sums of cash being deposited into her account.”
Tom Watters, defending, said: “This offending commenced when she was 24 and she finds it difficult to recognise the person that she was at that time.
“It started when her marriage was breaking up, she had a young child and her father died so she was under significant pressure.
“This is a lady who will not be back in any court in the future and a significant lesson has been learned.”
Sheriff Connelly said: “This is the type of offending the courts take seriously and in most circumstances this would attract a custodial sentence.
“I have to consider whether I can step away from that given your circumstances and I take into account that there has been no offending since or prior.
“You are the sole carer of a young child and any custodial sentence would undoubtedly impact your son as much as you so, on a fine balance, I can impose an alternative to custody but at the maximum level.”
Gilmour had originally been accused of embezzling £74,890 but pled guilty to the lesser amount.
A spokesperson for the Bank of Scotland said: “We have a zero-tolerance approach to misconduct and always fully support the authorities during an investigation.”
