The former head of an Aberdeen students’ charity who admitted swindling the organisation out of £16,000 has been handed unpaid work.
Jacqueline McKay, or Williams, took the cash while employed as the chief executive of Aberdeen University Students’ Association (AUSA).
During the offence – which took place over a 15-month period – the 50-year-old produced fake invoices supposedly relating to business expenditure.
Williams pled guilty to taking the cash in January, but has now finally been sentenced following a number of delays.
Sheriff Andrew Miller ordered her to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work within 12 months.
He said: “I think I now have sufficient information to enable me to make final orders in relation to this case.
“My view is, although the court has to have regard to the options available and the scope for the victim in a case involving fraud to be reimbursed, it does seem to me it’s appropriate to leave that particular matter to be resolved in the context of civil proceedings which are ongoing.”
He added: “It’s clear that you accepted that you did fraudulently obtain the sum of £16,000 primarily, I think, by a number of means including claiming allowance in terms of housing for an address at which you did not live and also using a credit card issued by your employers, for purposes well outwith your responsibilities.
“The offence involved a significant breach of trust on your part.”
Sheriff Miller continued: “Having considered whether custody is appropriate – I think I have had to consider that because of the sums involved – I don’t think the public interest requires that.”
Keep up to date with the latest news with The Evening Express newsletter
Defence agent Andrew Ormiston said Williams had had at least £13,082.72 arrested over four bank accounts and various other sources.
According to court documents, Williams submitted “false invoices along with claim forms” while “knowing that these claims were false or represented transactions you were not entitled to make”, causing AUSA to pay her £16,000.
The offence took place between August 19 2014 and November 16 the following year.
Williams, whose address was given in court papers as Dollar, Clackmannanshire, joined AUSA – which is an independent charity representing students and raising cash for local causes – in June 2014.
She was involved with a £10 million project to build a new student union for the university during her time in Aberdeen.
After the allegations came to light in early 2016, the university confirmed she was no longer working there.
An interim chief executive was appointed in 2016, with a job advert for the post offering a salary of £65,000 a year to the successful applicant.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.