A Dundee roofing firm hit by a near £30,000 fraud by its secretary had to lay off long-serving staff members as a result of the deceit.
Patricia Henderson, 46, siphoned the money from Andrew Clark Slaters over an 18-month period, but was caught when the company became suspicious of cash shortages.
Henderson was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work, a decision branded an “absolute disgrace” by the firm’s owner Michael Carr.
Mr Carr, who walked out of the court hearing in disgust, said: “It’s ridiculous. She basically blamed it on the gambling and going to the bingo.
“I expected her to get a custodial sentence just to try and put across the point, because people are just helping themselves to money now. That would have been a good opportunity to stamp it out.”
Henderson previously admitted embezzling £29,626 from the company between April 1 2009 and October 30 2010. She was employed as a secretary and book keeper with the firm from November 2008 and was permitted to work from home.
Mr Carr said the company had been left in “a jam” by Henderson’s embezzlement.
He said: “We were in a healthy position, but people were phoning up saying they were due this and due that.
“She was blaming it on the downturn and lying her way through it. We initially tried to get the year-end books and she was reneging on handing them in. It turned out that she was just helping herself.
“We got our accountant on the case and he discovered a hell of a lot of money missing. The company was on its knees. We had to lay off four or five guys because of it and they had been there a long time.”
At a previous hearing depute fiscal Douglas Wiseman told the court: “She was responsible for all administration and banking.
“She transferred funds from the firm’s bank account into her own bank account and put these under the heading ‘wages’.
“She also issued certain cheques and cashed them. Public bodies made inquiries and the firm’s own auditor accountant started making inquiries into cashing up and checked bank accounts and asked about the shortfall.”
Henderson’s lawyer, Matt Jackson, told the court she worked from home as a cost-cutting exercise for the company.
He said: “On occasion they simply would not have enough funds in the firm’s bank account to settle out-standing debts, and on those occasions she would pay them from her own money.
“She was told to repay herself and simply began to over repay herself and she frittered the money away. She was attending bingo four or five times week. With hindsight it looks like there was an addictive trend.”
Sheriff Elizabeth Munro imposed a probation order with one year’s supervision and ordered Henderson to carry out the 200 hours of unpaid work.
Henderson was also given a restricted movement requirement, meaning she must stay within her home address between 7pm and 7am every day, excluding Tuesdays, for three months.