A clerical assistant who embezzled over £40,000 from a council day centre for adults with learning difficulties was on Monday jailed for eight months at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Alistair Duff told 49-year-old Lynn Nobel it was a serious crime carried out in serious circumstances.
He told her, “You were in a position of trust when you committed this crime and engaged in a period of sustained dishonesty for just over 10 years.”
Nobel previously admitted on indictment that between August 13, 1999 and February 28, 2009, at the Wellgate Day Support Service, Ladywell Avenue, while employed as a clerical assistant, she embezzled £43,396.
The court heard Nobel had been employed at the centre for 20 years. It is a day centre for adults with learning difficulties and provides social and recreational activities and meals.
Nobel would count the lunch takings each day and the manager would countersign them each week. A new manager thought Nobel was responsible for far more managerial tasks than she should be and took some of them on herself. Within two months, she found income from lunch sales did not feature in spreadsheets.
The matter was pursued and it was established that £43,396 was unaccounted for. This comprised £42,615 of lunch monies and £781 of attendance allowances. Discrepancies for lunch monies dated to August 1999.
Solicitor George Donnelly, for Nobel, earlier told the court she had £43,354 taken out of her pension fund, to be paid to the social work department. This left a balance of £42 outstanding.
Mr Donnelly, in his plea in mitigation, said Nobel accepted this was a extremely serious matter, involving a large amount of money. He said she worked with the council from 1988 until March 2009, when she was dismissed as a result of this matter.
She married in 1982 and had two children and a grandchild. He said she had never previously been in any trouble whatsoever, adding that from the beginning of her marriage, she was subjected to physical and mental abuse, describing being “battered” by her husband each weekend. Nobel went to stay with her parents and he would turn up there and create trouble. She put up with that until 1992.
Her husband stripped their flat of furniture and other items and never paid a penny in alimony for her or her son. The husband had left her to pay off a bank loan and all the bills.
She worked for the council and each month was left with nothing of her wages. The bank had offered her a top-up loan and she moved money from one account to another.
Mr Donnelly said, “She cannot remember starting this course of conduct, borrowing money and struggling to pay.”Extreme difficultiesHe said that Nobel’s mother had died in 1998, which was a great loss to her as she had been an emotional and financial support. He said no one in Dundee City Council management checked the figures over a period of 10 years. It was only checked in 2008 when a new manager took more of an interest.
Mr Donnelly added that she had no excuse for taking the money but it was used to pay for clothing, food and necessities. She lived in the small rented flat that she had been in since she was married.
“There were no foreign holidays, fancy cars or jewellery this was just to keep living,” he said.
Since the offence, Nobel had attended college and completed a medical receptionist course and applied for work but so far been unsuccessful. She was also the carer for her 90-year-old father.
The agent said, “She is contrite, embarrassed and ashamed and feels worst about the shame she has brought on her family.”
He said it was unlikely she would come before the courts again and that the sum taken had been recouped as she had a pension fund which almost exactly equated to the sum taken.
Sheriff Duff said Nobel had stolen just over £43,000 from the council over 10 years. He accepted that she had shown contrition and said that would be reflected in the sentence. However, he took the view that only a custodial sentence was appropriate.