Gambling addict who embezzled £400,000 from Scottish estates jailed for 32 months

David Proudfoot was employed with agricultural firm Andersons Northern Ltd when he stole the massive amount of cash by transferring funds into his own account over a 10 year period.

Proudfoot, 48, had responsibilities for managing tax affairs and VAT returns for clients including the Bemesyde Estate in the Scottish Borders and the Auchlyne Estate in Perthshire.

The crooked finance worker covered up the scam by producing fake HMRC tax references and invoices and spent the “overwhelming majority” of the cash on his out of control gambling addiction.

Proudfoot pleaded guilty to embezzling £439,500 while employed with Andersons Northern Ltd, Station Road, Musselburgh, East Lothian, between January 2012 and August 2022 when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month. He returned to the dock for sentencing on Friday where a sheriff described his offending as “a significant breach of trust over a prolonged period”.

Alexander Lawrie

Sheriff Julius Komorowski said: “You pleaded guilty to embezzling over an extended period the sum of £439,500 from your employer while acting as a bookkeeper. You stole the money, at least in the most part, to fund a gambling addiction. It was a sustained and systemic period of theft.”

Sheriff Komorowski acknowledged Proudfoot “appears to be genuinely remorseful” but said he has no current assets and there is “no prospect of any meaningful recovery of the money taken”.

Proudfoot, from Penicuik, Midlothian, was sentenced to 32 months in custody. Solicitor Ellie Younger, defending, said her client had been gambling since attending secondary school and has recently been seeking help with the Gambling Aware organisation.

Ms Younger said: “It is fair to say Mr Proudfoot’s gambling got out of control. He is not making excuses and recognises how destructive this addiction has become.

“Mr Proudfoot is remorseful for the harm caused and is committed to making amends. He has expressed shame at his offending.”

The court heard the funds taken from both estates should be refunded to the owners through the Financial Ombudsman now the criminal proceedings have concluded. Previously the court was told Proudfoot was employed as a bookkeeper with Andersons Northern Ltd who provide services to farming and non-farming businesses including financial planning, farm business administration and IT and software design.

Prosecutor Ruaridh Allison said the firm has around 150 clients including the Bemesyde Estate in the Scottish Borders and the Auchlyne Estate in Perthshire. Bemesyde Estate is owned by Earl Haig of Bemesyde but is largely run by his wife Lady Jane Haig while the Auchlyne Estate is owned by sole trader Emma Paterson.

Mr Allison said: “The offence came to light in August 2022 when the accountants of the Bemesyde Estate identified a VAT anomaly dating back to November 2021. The anomaly was £20,000 which was sufficient for an internal investigation to be met.”

The investigation uncovered the large scale scam involving numerous financial transactions being paid into Proudfoot’s own bank account and the police were contacted. Mr Allison said “over 200 payments disguised as payments for invoices” totalling £108,922.45 were made from the Bemesyde Estate account to Proudfoot between May 2012 and July 2022.

The court heard the missing funds went unnoticed as estate bosses had previously allowed Proudfoot to buy products on their behalf and he would be later reimbursed.

The fiscal said further payments amounting to more than £115,000 had also been made into Proudfoot’s account under the reference of HMRC as he handled payments for two estate employees.

The police investigation also found the finance worker had embezzled more than £200,000 from the Auchlyne Estate between 2014 and 2022. The court heard yesterday that Proudfoot had spent around £350,000 with the online gambling site Bet 365 and a further £163,000 with Betfair and Paddy Power.