Crooked Scots bookkeeper spared jail for embezzling £27,000 from council
- Rory Cassidy
- Jun 19
- 3 min read
A woman who embezzled £27,000 from a Scottish council which was earmarked for supporting vulnerable people has been spared jail.
Mother-of-two Nadine McAleney dodged prison after the sheriff sentencing her told her the crime "entirely merits a custodial disposal".
McAleney cashed East Renfrewshire Council cheques but pocketed the cash herself while working as a Business Improvement Assistant.
The 34-year-old, who spent the cash on living expenses, then adjusted a spreadsheet showing what had been paid out to make it look like the account balanced.
But it was actually £27,000 down and McAleney's crime only came to light when another member of staff noticed the discrepancies and raised the issue.
An investigation was launched which revealed McAleney had added hidden lines and columns into the spreadsheet to account for her embezzlement.
She admitted trousering the cash from East Renfrewshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) between April 2019 and November 2020.
McAleney, of Bathgate, West Lothian, had admitted her guilt previously and returned to the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court today, Friday, June 19, 2026, to be sentenced.
Defence solicitor Gemma Elder said the case had taken so long to come to court due to delays to the police investigation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The court proceedings also stalled because McAleney suffered the loss of a child while pregnant.
Miss Elder explained: "She resides in West Lothian and is a mother-of-two. She fully accepts her behaviour and conduct.
"She suffered a significant loss in her life in March 2025. Her children are three and five-months-old.
"She is currently on maternity leave and continues to retain employment with her employer in the West Lothian area.
"She recognises she was in a position of trust and that the money she took from the local authority is a significant amount.
"She has lived alone since the age of 16 and has very little family support.
"She has had periods of homelessness and ultimately that hardship, on one view, brought her to offend in a very opportunistic way.
"She has displayed the appropriate remorse."
Sheriff Christian Varney said: "It's an offence which does merit custody, and if it's going to be an alternative disposal it will need to be the highest available.
"Any discount for her guilty plea would be the fact that I'd stepped back from custody."
After hearing that McAleney would comply with a community-based sentence, rather than being sent to prison, he spared her jail.
He placed her on a 12-month-long Community Payback Order, which will see her carrying out 240 hours of unpaid work.
She was also placed in a Restriction of Liberty Order which will see her fitted with an electronic tag and having to remain within her home between 7pm and 7am for 12 months.
He said: "The offence you have committed involves a significant breach of trust.
"It is the sort of offence that entirely merits a custodial disposal. If you don't comply with this [sentence] you'll end up in the jail."
He told McAleney he had considered the impact on her children when considering the appropriate sentence to impose.
Speaking after McAleney was sentenced, Anne Marie Hicks, Procurator Fiscal for North Strathclyde, said: “Nadine McAleney committed an egregious betrayal of trust by taking advantage of her position to embezzle money that was set aside to help the most vulnerable people in our society.
“She showed no regard for the impact her crimes would have on vulnerable adults and children who relied on support from East Renfrewshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership. She has now been brought to account for her crimes.
“Embezzlement is not a victimless crime. COPFS prosecutors are fully committed to tackling financial crime of this kind.”
Comments