A debt-ridden Ayrshire woman who embezzled almost £50,000 from a charity and a children’s nursery has been sentenced in court.
Claire Paton was caught after going missing from her home in December 2017, prompting a wide-scale police search.
The 47-year-old pleaded guilty to the theft of thousands last month and appeared in the dock at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court again yesterday to be sentenced.
Paton has been ordered to repay a total of £49,588 in compensation to the companies she embezzled.
She stole £38,226 from Get 2 Grips with Grants while acting as the charity firm’s finance manager.
She also embezzled a further £11,366 from Douglas Park Nursery in Largs while working as treasurer.
During the search for Paton, of Lindsay Crescent, Largs, a debt restructuring letter was found on her work desk, revealing the extent of the sums she owed.
It was later revealed that she had boarded a ferry to Brodick from Ardossan and was captured on CCTV at a shop on the Isle of Arran.
Paton was found after several online appeals from her husband and police search aided by members of the public.
Prosecutor Ruairidh Ferguson told the court: “She was traced by police and she made reference to having stolen thousands of pounds from Get 2 Grips over a number of years.”
The court heard that Paton had overpaid her salary and taken cash out which had not been authorised from the grant charity between January 2013 and December 2017.
She had also made a number of unauthorised debit card transactions.
In her role as treasurer at the nursery, Paton had paid out money in cheques which were cashed to her own account between January 2014 and December 2017.
Mr Ferguson said: “Part of what the accused was doing was moving money between the two businesses to cover up what she was doing.”
Both the charity and the nursery carried out investigations and Paton was arrested in June 2018.
She admitted what she had done during a police interview at Saltcoats police station.
Paton also admitted a third charge of forging a signature of another member of staff from the nursery on cheques.
Paton’s defending agent Simon Brown told the court some money had been repaid to the businesses.
Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane ordered her to repay the total of £49,588 to the two organisations and placed her on a community payback order with 300 hours of unpaid work and supervision for one year.
