Lynn Taylor pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to embezzling £220,000

An accountant for the charity that runs the Edinburgh Festival Fringe embezzled more than £200,000 from her employers.

Lynn Taylor pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to swindling £220,331 from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society between 2008 and 2015.

The court heard today (Thursday) that the scheme was uncovered in 2015 when the charity switched to a new pension system.

It was discovered employer contribution pension payments had been going directly into Taylor's bank account.

At a disciplinary hearing, Higgins said Taylor was unable to explain how this had happened but voiced concern that she might have overpaid herself.

She was unable to give an exact figure, later telling police she did not really know how much she had taken, and said she had been stressed.

Taylor told her colleagues: "I tried it once and got away with it and you get a little greedy."

Sheriff Frank Crowe was told she had repaid all the money taken, as well as a further £40,000 for the cost of the investigation.

The court heard Taylor had been interested in horses and show-jumping and had overspent significantly, but was at a loss to describe her behaviour over the years.

Sheriff Crowe deferred sentence until next month for a psychologist's report.

He told Taylor: "You have admitted a very serious breach of trust involving a six-figure sum, used for your own benefit and pleasure and taking money from a charity is something the court takes very seriously."