Controversial foodbank boss was charged in 2015

An embezzlement charge against the controversial founder of Greater Maryhill Foodbank has been dropped.

Julie Webster was due to go on trial this week but the case has been cancelled.

A Crown Office spokesman said: “It is the duty of the crown to keep cases under review and after full and careful consideration of the facts and circumstances, including the available admissible evidence, the procurator fiscal instructed there should be no further proceedings at this time.

“Should the evidential position change, the crown reserves the right to raise proceedings.”

Webster gained notoriety back in 2014 during the independence referendum when it was alleged she mounted a dirty tricks campaign against Glasgow’s Needy – a foodbank that didn’t have charity status.

Glasgow’s Needy founders Darren Carnegie and his dad Andrew say they received death threats, verbal abuse and harassment in the street and at home because of the anti-poverty group’s massive popularity on the back of the referendum campaign.

TFN exclusively revealed allegations that some of the harassment came from Webster and there were claims that the city’s two biggest foodbanks were at war with each other.

Webster denied the allegations but controversy was never far from the door of the organisation she ran.

In 2015 thieves allegedly stole over £3,000 during a break-in at Maryhill Foodbank. Shortly after, Glasgow City Council halted funding to the charity over claims the organisation wasn’t being properly governed.

Webster was later charged with the embezzlement of £15,000 between March and December 2015.

In a characteristic broadside, Webster posted a statement on social media in March 2016 announcing the foodbank’s closure, blaming local SNP councillor Billy McAllister and the media for its demise saying “prolonged and sustained attacks” had made it impossible to continue the service.