Gambling addict jailed for £30,000 swindle
Posted by Chloe Flint on 10 Nov 2009 at 13:11
A gambling addict has been sent to prison for 15 months in Scotland after he conned £30,000 out of a work colleague.
Alexander Shields told Lynn McFarlane he wanted to leave his wife for her and said his partner wanted to take his daughter out of the UK.
But the 26-year-old, who met Ms McFarlane while working at Socttish Water, Edinburgh, in fact did not have a wife or a daughter and used the cash to pay for a gambling habit.
The Herald newspaper said Sheriff Neil MacKinnon told Shields: “Your behaviour in this matter was not only dishonest, it was calculating and callous, taking advantage of the trust given to you by the complainer.”
An earlier hearing saw fiscal-depute Ruth Ross-Davie say Shields had also told Ms McFarlane that he owed money to loan sharks and was being threatened by them. He also claimed that some of the threats were coming by text message and mentioned Ms McFarlane.
The court was told that whenever any doubt was expressed by Ms McFarlane, Shields would tell her he wanted to be with her as soon as his marriage problems were sorted out.
Shields' scam was blown after Ms McFarlane eventually went to the police, by which time he was no longer working at Scottish Water.
Ms Ross-Davie said Miss McFarlane had gathered up the cash by taking out loans and going into an overdraft of some £6,000.
She also said in court that around Christmas 2007, Sheilds said he wanted to leave his wife to be with Ms McFarlane, but there was no wife and no romantic relationship with him and Ms McFarlane.
She said: “He made false claims as to his personal circumstances and in January 2008 began to talk to Ms McFarlane about the financial burdens of matrimonial problems. He told her that he had separated from his wife and that she was threatening to divorce him and remove his daughter from the UK and that he required lawyer’s fees.”
Shields subsequently told her that he owed money to loan sharks who were threatening him, although this was untrue.
Shields, of Philip Avenue, Bathgate, admitted fraud and obtaining around £30,000 from Ms McFarlane by fraud between January 15 and March 31 last year at Scottish Water, Buckstone Terrace, Edinburgh, and elsewhere in the city.
Defence agent Peter O'Neill said the offence was caused by Shields' gambling addiction, and that he felt comfortable asking for money after the two became friends.
He also said he understood the money given to him was a loan and that he always intended to pay it back.
Mr O'Neill added that shields was disgusted and that he was in disbelief that the situation got as far as it did.
The court also heard he was now seeking help for his gambling problem and had used the addiction as a coping mechanism for depression.
Mr O'Neill urged the Sheriff to put Shields on probation, so he could find employment and pay back the money, but instead shields was handed the prison sentence.
He will also be on a supervised release order for six months after the jail sentence ends.
