Broxburn women stole council cash

Oct 9 2008 West Lothian Courier

A WORKER at West Lothian Council, who embezzled nearly £40,000 of taxpayers’ money, has been jailed.

Lorna Lumley, who was employed for 19 years as a credit assistant at the local authority, stole a staggering £39,000 over a four-year period.

The 37 year old was in charge of an account where the petty cash paid to contractors of the council was recorded.

And West Lothian Council came in for some criticism when Linlithgow Sheriff Court was told that no-one had checked the amounts Lumley had been paying out.

There had been a system in place where anything paid from the account was countersigned by someone else but at some stage this checking stopped.

Lumley realised that this was happening and began making payments to herself in August 2003 and carried on till December 2007.

The embezzlement came to light after one of Lumley’s colleagues eventually noticed discrepancies in the accounts and informed her boss.

When she realised the game was up Lumley confessed to council officials what she has done and said she wanted to pay it back.

An internal audit revealed the scale of her embezzlement and she was arrested. She told police the money had been used in support of loans on her property.

Last week at Linlithgow Sheriff Court Lumley, of 56 Hillview Avenue, Broxburn, pled guilty to the offence.

Lumley also admitted breaching a probation order she had been put on for two offences.

The first was a breach of the peace offence she committed in October 2006.

She and her former partner had been drinking and an argument broke out. Lumley then pulled a knife out of the kitchen drawer and brandished it at him.

The second was an offence under the children and young persons act in May 2007. Lumley admitted being incapable of caring for a six-year-old child she had been looking after following a drinking spree where she downed a bottle of wine and a half-bottle of vodka.

Police officers had to rouse Lumley in her home after neighbours became concerned that the child was outside playing on its own.

Her solicitor, Mark Thorley, told the court nearly £30,000 of the stolen money would be recovered by the council through her pension fund.

Mr Thorley said she had admitted her guilt from the start and had expressed her remorse for what she had done.

The solicitor added: “The money will be recovered from her from two parts – firstly from her pension and secondly from the sale of her house.

“Her motivation for what she did was an increasing dependancy on alcohol and the separation from her partner.

“She made a full and frank confession and did not seek to deny what she had done, accepting entirely that she had taken this money.

“In some ways it was all too easy for her. The system was not robust enough.

“This is no excuse for doing it but it made the temptation great.

“She has loans on the house with the Royal Bank of Scotland and another company.

“It is clear that she and her former partner had been living beyond their means for several years and she has been drinking heavily.

“Alcohol has played a major part and has been an increasing part in her life.

“She is a young woman who had no convictions until 2006.

“She has lost her job, she is losing her home and will understandably lose her pension so whatever happens to her now it will be a start again for her.”

Sheriff Donald Muirhead said the offence had been a significant breach of trust over a long period of time and had no option but to jail Lumley.

However he criticised the council for its failure to check the petty cash system and said this made Lumley’s temptation “too great”.

Sentencing her to 220 days Sheriff Muirhead said: “I have to take into account not only your personal situation but that this is a serious offence and a considerable amount of money. I need to send a message to the community.

“You have breached your trust to the community and council tax payers of West Lothian.

“Taking everything into account it seems that nothing but a custodial sentence is appropriate.

“It is highly unfortunate that not only have you been involved in this breach of trust but you have been behaving badly in terms of your breach of the peace.

“When you come out you will be starting afresh. I hope you take advantage of that situation.”