Edinburgh bank worker jailed for taking £40K from city branch

An Edinburgh bank worker who embezzled more than £40,000 has been jailed for 12 months.

Robert Paxton, 30, took the cash from a branch of the Bank of Scotland to fund “a lavish lifestyle”, a court was told this week. Picture: Getty Images

Robert Paxton, 30, took the cash from a branch of the Bank of Scotland to fund “a lavish lifestyle”, a court was told this week.

Paxton embezzled the large sum while working at the bank’s Pentland House at the city’s South Gyle over a period of nearly two years.

He had previously pleaded guilty to the offence of embezzling £42,657.12 when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

He returned to the dock for sentencing on Tuesday where Sheriff Alistair Noble sent him to custody for a period of 12 months.

The sheriff said he had little option but to jail the bank worker due to the “gravity of the offence”.

Sheriff Noble added Paxton, from Edinburgh, had carried out the scam to “gamble and engage in a lavish lifestyle”.

Solicitor James McMacken, defending, said his client had shown “contrition” for the committing the offence.

The lawyer admitted it would now be “impossible” for Paxton to work in a position of trust again.

Paxton admitted to embezzling £42,657.12 from the Bank of Scotland, Pentland House, South Gyle, Edinburgh, between November 30, 2016 and September 14, 2018.

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