A Fife community councillor who admitted committing fraud while arranging a local festival has been fined more than £1,100.
David Shields, 50, must pay £1,125 after producing a false receipt to fellow council members while arranging an art, food and music festival in Cellardyke last July.
Mr Shields, of George Street, Cellardyke, was at Cupar Sheriff Court on Thursday for sentencing after admitting the offence last month.
The court had heard fellow members of Anstruther, Kilrenny and Cellardyke Community Council confronted him after he produced a receipt for the three-day event from a local company called Thaw Entertainment, which appeared not to exist.
The charge stated that having been given the money by the community council for entertainment services, he pretended to have spent £2,450 with Thaw Entertainments and provided a false receipt in that name.
On Thursday, however, it emerged some of that expenditure had since been accounted for.
Sentencing Shields, Sheriff Charles Macnair stated Shields had made little or no benefit from the situation and imposed a fine of £1,125.
“You were effectively using these events to further your business and had you declared what you were doing then it may have been legitimate,” he said.
“Instead of coming clean you produced a false invoice.
“I don’t know if there were any gains (and) if any they were minimal.
“It appears to have been an accounting problem. While serious, I do not consider it merits a custodial sentence.”