A 38-YEAR-OLD Montrose man who took money from his dying partner’s bank account to fund his drinking and gambling habits was warned yesterday that every penny must be paid back with interest.

The warning was issued by Sheriff Stein at Arbroath as oil worker Paul Gibbon of Traill Terrace appeared before him.

Gibbon admitted that between August 14, 2004, and January 8, 2005, at the Halifax Bank of Scotland, High Street, Montrose, and elsewhere in Scotland, he stole £15,000.

The court heard Gibbon withdrew cash from partner Heather Russell’s personal bank account before and after her death from cancer in 2004.

Solicitor Nick Markowski said that the former army colour sergeant had, at first, appeared to cope well with the devastating news that his partner had cancer.

Mr Markowski said that over the years that Miss Russell battled the disease, Gibbon had been her main carer.

“Outwardly he seemed to be coping rather well, but the illness was also taking its toll on my client,” he said.

The solicitor referred to a letter from a local GP which said that the “care, consideration and level of kindness” shown by Gibbon during this time would have been “hard to better.”

But Mr Markowski said in the latter stages of Miss Russell’s life, Gibbon was suffering from an acute depressive illness and an alcohol dependency syndrome.

Most of the money Gibbon took from Miss Russell’s account without her knowledge or permission was spent on “alcohol and gambling,” Mr Markowski said.

He told Sheriff Stein that his client had now recovered from this illness and was aware of the mistakes he had made.

“No formal psychiatric treatment is required but it is clear that Mr Gibbon should continue with bereavement counselling and continue to see his general practitioner,” added Mr Markowski.

“He is racked with remorse and has a genuine desire to repay the money which was taken.”

The court heard that a sum of just over £4200 had been repaid to Miss Russell’s estate by Gibbon via his share of the sale of the home the couple shared.

Sheriff Stein told Gibbon, “Before anything else is considered the money taken should be repaid in full with interest, I would have thought.

“You know how wrong this was. We have heard a great deal about your problems; not quite so much about the upset this must have caused to the family.

“All of this is going to have to be repaid, and sentence will depend in part on this repayment.

“We’ll then see what else might follow.”

Sentence was deferred for six months for Gibbon to start making repayments at £500 a month.