Robert Crawford, 72, has been jailed after embezzling £600,000 from Scottish Widows. He blew the cash on exotic holidays
A low-ranking clerk was jailed yesterday after embezzling £600,000 from a financial company to splash out on lavish holidays, including a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Robert Crawford even kept diaries of his thefts as he stole the money from Scottish Widows over 14 years to fund a series of opulent trips abroad.
The 72-year-old spent some of the cash on a luxury journey on the Trans- Siberian Railway in 2010, a nine-week trip to the Far East, Australia and New Zealand in 2006, two trips to Argentina and a number of cruises in the Caribbean and the US.
He also invested a large sum of the stolen funds, meaning he is able to make ‘full repayment of the sum involved’, Livingston Sheriff Court heard yesterday.
But a sheriff sentenced Crawford to two years in prison and branded his long campaign of embezzlement ‘a gross betrayal’.
The court was told how Crawford kept ‘meticulous’ records of his thefts in diaries kept in a folder at his home in Broxburn, West Lothian. The diaries contained entries describing what Crawford did each day, including his lavish holidays.
Crawford funded a lavish lifestyle with the ill-gotten money, and went on a number of cruises in the Caribbean (file photo)
Assistant procurator fiscal Deborah Demick said: ‘He has taken on average three significant holidays per year since 2002 including two trips per year to Thailand and Indonesia and a luxury journey on Trans-Siberian Railway in 2010.
‘In addition to these long-haul trips, the accused’s bank statements show regular payments to numerous hotels throughout the UK, which appear to be weekend or overnight trips.’
Crawford took £600,000 from policies which had not been claimed between May 2001 and December 2014.
Miss Demick said Crawford was able to identify policies where payments had been returned or where it was suspected that the policy holder had died and complete cheque requisition forms.
The embezzlement was eventually discovered when colleagues noticed that such payments only stopped when Crawford was off work.
Miss Demick added: ‘By requesting the cheque be made payable to a financial institution rather than a named policy holder, the accused was able to conceal his involvement from his colleagues.’
Crawford even went on the Trans-Siberian Railway (file photo). A sheriff told him his scam was a ‘gross betrayal’
Iain Bryce, defending, said: ‘Much of this money was invested and that’s how Mr Crawford has been able to make full repayment of the sum involved.’
Crawford pleaded guilty to embezzlement at Livingston Sheriff Court in September last year and returned to the dock yesterday to be sentenced.
Sheriff Peter Hammond told him: ‘This was a gross betrayal of the position of trust you held with that organisation. It appears you were comfortably off and this was carried out as a result of greed and not need. I give you credit for repaying the sum you embezzled. That’s an important factor.’