HBoS worker embezzled £2500 from bank

Nov 20 2008 by Alastair McNeill, Hamilton Advertiser

A FORMER employee at the Hamilton Bank of Scotland branch has almost repaid the sum of £2500 which he embezzled while working there.

Hamilton Sheriff Court heard on Monday that Mark McManus had paid back £2280 of the cash he had taken on February 27, 2004.

McManus (29), formerly of Forgewood in Motherwell, had originally been charged with embezzling £3000 from the Bank of Scotland’s Brandon Street branch.

However, in August 2006, the Crown accepted a guilty plea to an amended charge of embezzling £2500.

Since that date he has been paying the cash back to Halifax Bank of Scotland in stages.

Sheriff Rae Small described the offence as a serious one, when McManus appeared before him on Monday.

However, he noted that McManus had nearly paid back the cash he had stolen.

He told him: “It has taken a long time to get there, but you have almost repaid the sum you defrauded from your former employers.

“I am going to make a compensation order for the outstanding balance of £220.

“I am ordering you to pay that money to HBoS within one month.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the compensation order means that the £220 will be paid here and we will forward it to HBoS on your behalf.”

Sheriff Small also fined McManus, who now lives in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, £250 for carrying out the offence.