Former Wick woman making progress in paying off £14k fraud debt
A woman who cheated an elderly man out of £14,000 has left her Wick home and returned to her native Orkney.
Fiona Taylor is continuing to pay back the cash in monthly instalments of £500 and these currently amount to a total of £9500, Wick Sheriff Court heard last week.
However, 88-year-old Albert Millington, whose friendship she betrayed, won’t see a penny of the money as he died recently.
Taylor (66) lived in Wick when she committed the offence but Sheriff Neil Wilson was told last week that she is now resident at Seafield, Finstown.
Taylor, formerly of Glamis Road, Wick, originally denied on indictment defrauding Mr Millington of £40,000 but plea-bargaining resulted in the figure being reduced to £14,000 and she changed her plea to one of guilty.
The case began three years ago and is one of the longest to come before the court. At one point, Taylor’s fitness to plead was brought into question but she was subsequently deemed fit.

Taylor befriended Mr Millington while she was operating a taxi business in Wick between December 2015 and July 2016.
She persuaded the pensioner to invest in her cafe business and to purchase a car which was to be used to drive him about. Taylor had claimed to need the money to pay off her granddaughter’s rent arrears but gambled away some of it.
Initially, Taylor was reluctant to attend court and at one point a warrant was issued for her arrest. But she eventually began to make regular appearances in what was described as “an unusual set of circumstances.”
Matters were further delayed when Taylor’s solicitor pulled out and Miss MacLennan was “parachuted in” to take over the case.
Following Mr Millington’s death, recently - he died intestate - it was decided in August that an executor would require to be appointed to handle his estate.
In court last Wednesday, Miss MacLennan reported that she had spoken to Mr Millington’s daughter about the repayments total and whether it could be transferred to his daughter’s bank account.
That is being investigated and the court will consider an update on November 13.
Miss MacLennan commented: “Things are moving but perhaps not so fast as we would like.”