A GARAGE boss stole £20,000 from the station’s tills – then gambled it all away in a failed bid to pay off her debts.
Irene Pow tried to take advantage by trying to fiddle with the books and kept three days of takings when one of the Shell garages she managed was closed for refurbishment.
But the 45 year-old’s boss noticed the discrepancies in the balance sheet and confronted her.
She admitted taking the cash and was suspended from the filling station near Edinburgh on the spot.
Yesterday (Tues) Pow pleaded guilty to embezzling the cash from Shell Garage in her home town of Newtongrange, Midlothian.
She will be sentenced next month.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how she had taken out a loan of £5,000 in July 2007, before asking her bank for another £20,000 four months later.
She was trying to pay the cash back at £400 per-month.
And she began to help herself to cash from her own workplace – a garage run as a franchise by Anastar Ltd.
Fiscal depute Gerard Drugan said: “The garage was undergoing refurbishment in February 2008.
“At the end of May, the franchise owner Alistair Campbell noticed there were discrepancies on the balance sheet.
“He asked Miss Pow about this and she admitted she had gambled the money in an effort to repay the money she had borrowed.
“She was suspended immediately.”
Police seized the company’s financial documents and questioned Pow over the firm’s dodgy bank balance.
She told them: “There’s no money there anymore.”
Mr Drugan added: “She confirmed nobody else would have been aware of her taking the money.”
Nothing was said on Pow’s behalf, as Sheriff Nigel Morrison deferred sentence for background reports.
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