Shamed boss gets 18 months

A 70-year old former charity director has been jailed for embezzling more than £54,000 from the organisation.

Catherine Bell from Helensburgh, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after admitting to embezzling the funds from her then employer, Jewish Care.

Bell defrauded the charity’s hardship fund between October 2013 and 2018, while she was its director of social care.

She was in charge of authorising payments from the charity’s hardship fund, which provided money to members of the Jewish community.

After setting up weekly and one-off payments for four families, who were meant to receive funds of between £35 and £70 a week, Bell was eventually found out as they were never given the cash.

She was caught in December 2018 after an audit of the fund found that Bell had stolen £54,435.

Bell was caught in 2018 when the then chief executive officer, Julie Marshall, began a “compliance check” to ensure staff had the relevant qualifications for their roles.

It was then discovered that the accused was not registered on the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) for social workers which threw further suspicion on her work.

At an earlier hearing on 6 June, Bell pleaded guilty to the embezzlement after which she was released on bail until yesterday’s sentencing hearing.

Jewish Care Scotland has been asked to comment.