Man defrauded workmates by lying over murder of ‘daughter’

Aug 14 2008 by Graham Fraser, Hamilton Advertiser

A MAN defrauded his Lanarkshire workmates of £1000 by claiming he had to fly his murdered daughter’s body back home from the USA.

Anthony Forsyth (40) was last week fined £450 and ordered to pay back the money his colleagues had collected.

Forsyth had told workers at Powerhall Systems in Wishaw’s Netherton Road that his daughter had been shot dead.

Staff at the manufacturer then whipped round to collect over £500, while the company itself added another £500 to help Forsyth repatriate his daughter’s body.

But Forsyth, of Irvine, Ayrshire, made the whole story up.

The HGV driver doesn’t even have a daughter, a court heard.

He came up with the scam after watching an episode of the American drama CSI.

Forsyth told Hamilton Sheriff Court that he only wanted to get three days off his work and deeply regretted hisactions.

Forsyth admitted defrauding workmates between August 9, 2006, and August 1, 2007.

He had originally been charged with defrauding his colleagues of £1500, but his guilty plea to a reduced figure of £1000 was accepted by the Crown.

At Hamilton Sheriff Court last week, Sheriff Joyce Powrie fined Forsyth £450 and ordered him to pay £1000 compensation to Powerhall Systems.

The Sheriff added the company should decide what happens to the money.

Forsyth then presented £1000 to the court, insisting that he hadn’t spent a penny of the money raised by the Powerhall Systems employees.