East Lothian crime: Former nurse who stole thousands from children’s charity to fund gambling habit sentenced

Alan Thorburn, a hospice nurse from Tranent, transferred money from accounts connected to Dreamflight, a charity which takes seriously ill children on holidays to Florida, to his personal bank account.

The 40-year-old was ordered to perform 280 hours of unpaid work at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today after admitting a charge of embezzlement between January 2015 and March 2018.

Alan Thorburn, 40, from East Lothian was given a community payback order for embezzling thousands of pounds from a disabled children’s charity to fund his gambling habit | Alexander Lawrie

Lynne Barrie, Procurator Fiscal for Lothian and Borders, said: “This was a shocking breach of trust by an employee who was responsible for managing funds raised by a children’s charity.

“The money which Alan Thorburn stole was donated by members of the public in good faith, intended to be used to take children with a serious illness or disability on a holiday of a lifetime.

“The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is committed to tackling financial crime and ensuring that those who commit offences against vulnerable individuals are brought to justice.”

The court heard that Thorburn started working with the charity around 2014 and had been given a role as one of two regional organisers for the east of Scotland. He was given a bank card and granted online access to the charity’s fundraising savers account.

One of Thorburn’s colleagues later noticed that the fundraising account’s number and sort code had changed and after raising the matter with him, the accused claimed Barclays had set up an alternative account without consulting him and agreed to close it down.

In February 2018, another charity worker queried the amount of money raised from a fundraising ball. An internal investigation revealed that money had been transferred into the account Thorburn had previously said he would close.