Woman jailed for embezzling money from wildlife charity and Edinburgh firm

Lesley Dickinson was sentenced to three and a half years in prison at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for embezzling £136,246 from a charity and business.

Dickinson abused her position at the Scottish Wildlife Trust to duplicate invoices and deposit payments into her own accounts, withdrawing £35,746 between September 1, 2015 and March 15, 2016.

Police were contacted after staff identified suspicious payments and a formal investigation was launched.

Dickinson was arrested and charged on April 26, 2016 and pleaded guilty to embezzlement on June 6, 2016.

While on bail, Dickinson began working for Edinburgh company, Tandem Digital Marketing, and again abused her position to process fraudulent payments to her own accounts - taking £100,500 from December 15, 2016 and October 24, 2017. The company went into liquidation.

Dickinson was again arrested and charged before pleading guilty to embezzlement on January 25, 2018.

Detective Inspector Gordon Burns of the Economic Crime and Financial Investigation Unit in Edinburgh said: “Dickinson repeatedly abused her position with two different employers over a two year period, stealing substantial sums of money.

“Her actions have had a significant impact with Tandem Digital Marketing entering liquidation in January this year and staff losing their jobs as a result.

“Thanks to the cooperation of both the Scottish Wildlife Trust and Tandem Digital Marketing, we were able to conduct a thorough investigation that quickly identified Dickinson as the suspect and she will now serve a custodial sentence for her crimes.

“Whenever these offences are reported to us we will utilise all resources at our disposal to bring those responsible to justice and the sentence imposed should serve as a reminder to those employed in a position of trust.”