A woman has appeared in court to admit scamming thousands from Lochee Community Larder.
Mhairi Borland, 40, helped herself to £4,500 while acting as the treasurer of the charity, which provides meals to one of Dundee’s most deprived areas.
Borland was originally charged with embezzling £25,000 but pled guilty to a reduced charge.
Reports have been ordered after Borland admitted the offence at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Prosecutors accepted a not guilty plea to a charge of stealing a laptop from the charity between January and June 2022.
Borland, of Gourdie Street, admitted a single charge of embezzling £4,500 from the charity while acting as treasurer between January 1 2019 and January 19 2022.
Defence solicitor Ross Donnelly told Sheriff Neil Kinnear: “Ultimately this will be a case where reports will be required”.
Sentence was deferred until next month for a criminal justice social work report to be obtained.
Borland’s bail order was allowed to continue.
The larder, based on Whorterbank, was established to tackle food poverty in the area, as well as “promoting community development”.
Demand for its services has increased significantly in recent years due to the cost of living crisis.
Borland was treasurer during the Covid-19 crisis, when the foodbank was critical to local people.
In April 2020 she helped celebrate a £3,400 cash injection from Foundation Scotland’s emergency coronavirus fund, which she said allowed them to purchase essential supplies such as fuel and personal protective equipment.
“It has been such a relief to us to use this funding and not have to go looking elsewhere,” she said.
Dundee-born actor Brian Cox visited the larder in 2022 as part of a Channel 5 documentary.
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