£600 theft from Perthshire factory ends up costing worker £1,000

A Dundee man who stole cash from his employer has been fined £1,000.

Alexander Mitchell, of Kingsway East, had earlier admitted that on December 22 last year he took £600 from the Vion Chicken factory in Coupar Angus.

At Perth Sheriff Court, on Wednesday, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis heard that Mitchell has repaid the money.

His solicitor David Sinclair said that Mitchell, 43, had taken the money after being pressurised into providing a loan to a friend.

The friend had then disappeared, leaving Mitchell to “carry the can”.

He said: “Mr Mitchell is aware he was in a position of trust with the money.

“I think the position is that he trusted a friend and the friend leaned on him.”

But Sheriff Foulis blasted Mitchell, saying: “You were in a position of trust. People were trusting you, that’s why they gave you the money. It doesn’t matter whether you use it or somebody else uses it.

“The fact is people were trusting you. That makes this serious.”

However, passing sentence, the sheriff recognised that Mitchell had made the effort to repay the money and so reduced the fine he initially had in mind by £500 to reflect the money he had paid back to the company.