Callous Edinburgh youth football coach stole over £20,000 from Hutchie Vale to fund gambling habit
Edinburgh football coach warned he could be facing time in jail
A callous youth football coach has been warned he is facing a jail term after he stole more than £20,000 to fund his out of control gambling habit.
Paul Fraser was a coach with Edinburgh youth outfit Hutchison Vale when he took the huge amount of cash that was due to fund the club’s under 16 team to play in a prestigious competition in Spain.
Parents of the young players handed over the cash to Fraser, but the Capital club’s planned trip to the Copa Daurada 2024 tournament was cancelled after the money went missing.
A police investigation was launched following complaints by angry parents and 45-year-old Fraser was eventually arrested and charged with the fraud.
The self-employed builder pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining a total of £22,644 between June 2023 and April 2024 when he appeared in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today, Wednesday, August 5.
Prosecutor Sophia Ramsan told the court the Crown is preparing a written narration into the details of the fraud which will be read out in open court at the next calling of the case.
Defence lawyer Stephen Mannifield said “the background to this is one of a gambling addiction” and asked for his client’s bail to be continued for background reports to be prepared.
Sheriff Julius Komorowski agreed to the bail motion, but warned Fraser: “This is obviously a very substantial fraud and is a breach of trust and a breach of responsibility. I will need to consider imprisonment but I will deal with this by some other means if I can.
“What will be relevant to that is what steps you can take either in the short term or the longer term to repay the money.”
Sentence was deferred to next month for reports to be prepared.
The shamed football coach, of Broomhouse, Edinburgh, attempted to hide his identity when he left the court building by covering his face with a black hood and mask.
Following the guilty plea one parent slammed her child’s former footie coach describing him as “a total scumbag”.
The woman said: “We all paid an absolute fortune to pay for our kids to play in this tournament. They were all so looking forward to going to Spain but, as well as the money Fraser has stolen, that dream was taken away from them.
“This process has taken so long but we’re all glad it’s finally coming to an end and he’s admitting what he as done. As far as we are all concerned he is a total scumbag and will never be welcomed back at the club.”
Hutchison Vale is a well-respected youth football team based in the Saughton area of the Capital and has produced several players who have gone to play for the Scotland national team including John Collins, Leigh Griffiths and Kenny Miller.
Fraser pleaded guilty to being paid £22,644 by organising and arranging a trip for a youth football team to attend a tournament in Spain, and without having authorisation to do so used that money for his own purposes and failed to return it, obtaining the money by fraud between June 28, 2023 and April 5,