AN ACCOUNTANT who embezzled more than £85,000 from a sawmill then embarked on a tour of Scotland because he "knew he was going to prison" was yesterday jailed for 20 months.
Robin Jenkins, a serial fraudster, was imprisoned for a separate £130,000 fraud last month and will now spend a total of four years and eight months in jail.
Jenkins, who was employed as a management accountant at the timber merchant J Calland
er & Son in Bainsford, Falkirk, used the £85,000 he stole from the company to fund his "extravagant lifestyle".
Falkirk Sheriff Court heard he wrote himself cheques to the value of the firm's entire payroll on five occasions over a six-month period.
The massive deposits in his own bank accounts were only noticed when auditors were called in months after he had left the company. Jenkins, 54, a prisoner at HMP Kilmarnock, pled guilty to embezzling £85,000 between 3 July, 2006, and 29 January, 2007, from J Callander & Sons.
Simon Hutchison, his solicitor, said Jenkins had "visited all the places he ever wanted to visit" with the proceeds of his embezzlement.
He said: "After this offence happened, another matter arose in Kilmarnock and he took off.
"He basically jumped in a car and visited all the places he ever wanted to visit and was eventually caught in Callander. He was sentenced to four years in jail in Kilmarnock for a similar matter. He has spent most of the money from this embezzlement.
"When the accused joined the company, he found that the payroll was dealt with by BACS transfers. In his position as management accountant, he had cheques made and that is how he got the money.
"He had a large home in Fintry and had a more extravagant lifestyle than even his relatively good salary covered. He is going to be left with nothing after this."
Mr Hutchison added that there was "no prospect" of the money being repaid, although proceeds of crime matters were ongoing.
Aiden Higgins, the procurator-fiscal depute, told the court that Jenkins had finally been arrested in March.
The shamed accountant was jailed for two years in 1996 for embezzling £176,525 from Barclays Bank. At the time he earned £32,000 a year, but became disgruntled when promised pay rises and bonuses did not materialise.
He had set up an elaborate system of bank accounts under false names, and paid the money to himself.
And on 27 June this year, he was jailed for 32 months at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court for stealing more than £130,000 from a firm in the town.
Jenkins's latest sentence will be served once his current one expires.
The full article contains 452 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
