An adviser who embezzled £7,000 from a city-centre bank wept in the dock as he was jailed at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Gary Ducat (27) took the money from the Murraygate branch of the Bank of Scotland over a 10-month period in 2010.
Ducat, of Papermill Avenue, Aberdeen, had previously admitted embezzling £7,000 while employed as a banking adviser between January 23 and November 5 2010 at the Bank of Scotland on Murraygate.
The distraught Ducat broke down as he was told by Sheriff George Way that he would be jailed.
As he was led from the dock his body was doubled over, sobbing loudly and with tears streaming down his face.
Solicitor Michael Short said: “This is someone who has made a mistake. He accepts responsibility and is willing to pay the money back.
“He has lost his career and it will be difficult for him to get a job because of this breach of trust.
“When he was spoken to by police and the anti-fraud branch of the bank, he accepted his responsibility.
“He will have to live with the fact that, when he applies for any decent job, he’ll be unlikely to receive it.”
Sentencing Ducat to five months and 10 days in prison, Sheriff George Way told him he had committed a “crime of opportunity”.
He said: “This is a clear breach of trust. He targeted an account he suspected he would be able to access and can’t even account for where the money went.
“I’m left with the feeling this was a crime of opportunity. You thought there was a reasonable chance you’d get away with what you did.
“It took 10 months for the fraud to come to the attention of the authorities. But when people are in positions of trust, there has to be something that they dread.
“If people are to be kept to the mark, there has to be punishment.
“Taking into account you’ll lose all status attributed to your career, I’ll reduce your prison sentence from eight months to five months and 10 days.”
A spokesman for Bank of Scotland said: “We do not comment on individual cases. However, I can confirm that we do take any incident of fraud very seriously and will ensure customers are fully reimbursed should they be the innocent victim of fraud.”