Property executive used best friend's bank card to pay for luxury car and holidays

Her friend was contacted by the bank and made her aware of the unauthorised transactions.

An Edinburgh property executive who fraudulently used a friend’s bank card to pay for a deposit on a brand new Mercedes has been ordered to carry out unpaid work.

Anika Allan, 38, used the card belonging to close pal Anna Renton to fund the first instalment on the luxury vehicle as well as using the woman’s account to pay for several hotel stays.

Allan worked at the same Edinburgh residential property and investment company where Ms Renton was the managing director and the pair had been “best friends” for around 17 years.

The close relationship had seen the pair go on several foreign holidays together with their families and their children regularly played with each other.

But Allan, a mother of two, abused the friendship when she used Ms Renton’s bank card to put down a £2000 deposit on a car at a Mercedes dealership in August 2019.

She also used the card to fund several hotel stays but was caught out when Ms Renton was contacted by her bank and made her aware of the unauthorised transactions.

The matter was reported to the police and a subsequent investigation showed Allan, of the capital’s Cammo area, had been responsible for the fraudulent use of the Barclaycard bank card.

Following her arrest Allan left the capital property firm and started up her own business specialising in Spanish baby wear and offering a bespoke nursery interior design service.

Allan’s LinkedIn profile states she is a “professional, versatile and hard working individual” with a “demonstrated sales record and proven leadership skills”.

She describes herself as having “a keen attention to detail and quality”, possesses “a high degree of initiative and motivation” and “thrives on a challenge and the opportunity to excel and deliver”.

Allan pled guilty to fraudulently paying for a deposit on a Mercedes and hotel bookings totalling £2753.87 between January and November 2019 when she appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

She returned to the dock for sentencing on Tuesday where Sheriff Peter McCormack was told Allan had paid all the cash back to her former friend.

Sheriff McCormack sentenced Allan to a community payback order as punishment where she will have to complete 135 hours of unpaid work.