Letter sparks review in Karen Spruce case
A LETTER has been sent to a sheriff about an embezzler who stole £22,000 from Wick Gala funds.
Sheriff David Sutherland revealed he received the correspondence from a member of the public when reviewing the progress Karen Spruce has made in repaying the cash she took.
At Stornoway Sheriff Court last week, he passed the letter to lawyer Kevin Macpherson who had earlier told the sheriff that a probation officer’s report indicated Spruce was obeying her probation conditions and was making good progress in paying back the money.
The contents of the letter were not publicly revealed though Mr Macpherson remarked it seemed to “run contrary to the social work report”.
Sheriff Sutherland ordered another review of the situation in three months when an updated probation officer’s report will be provided.
Karen Spruce, of Mill Street, Stornoway, embezzled £22,000 from Wick Gala. She previously lived in Caithness and was treasurer of the Wick Town Improvements Association (WTIA).
Though the organisers trusted her it emerged she had repeatedly lied to cover up her siphoning the accounts, plunging the voluntary body into a massive financial crisis.
She and her partner moved away from the county and relocated to the Western Isles where she got a job as a classroom assistant with a rural primary school.
Last year the court heard she was sacked when the council found out about the stolen money. She later became a student at Lews Castle College.
The 57-year-old was sentenced at Wick Sheriff Court in June 2010.
Spruce was placed on probation to include 240 hours of unpaid work for the theft which took place over three years, between April 2005 and June 2008.
She avoided jail after promising to pay back the outstanding £9500 within 18 months.
But about two months before the previous deadline it transpired that she had only raised £400.
She received an extension when the case was reviewed in Stornoway Sheriff Court last October and she reappeared for the island sheriff to check her progress.