Pizza boss stole restaurant cash

A Pizza Hut manager from Condorrat helped himself to a large slice of his restaurant’s takings.

Darren Gorman embezzled £9500 from the eatery in Gateside Street, Hamilton, over a four-month period.

At Hamilton Sheriff Court he was warned he’ll have to repay the cash.

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Gorman (29) of Gateside Way was also placed under supervision for 18 months and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid community work.

He admitted taking the money between January and May 2017.

He was originally accused of embezzling £29,752.80, but the Crown accepted his guilty plea in respect of the reduced sum.

Lauren Donnelly, prosecuting, said the accused was responsible for all aspects of banking at the restaurant.

At some point the franchise owner became suspicious that “the money was not marrying up”.

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Ms Donnelly said: “Checks revealed it was on days when the accused was working that there were inconsistencies.

“The franchise owner commenced an investigation and the matter was reported to the police whose own investigation took some time to complete.

“The £9500 loss has not been recovered by the franchise owner.”

Defence agent Stephen McQuillan said Gorman took the money not for himself but to give to a friend who was a “compulsive gambler”.

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The solicitor explained: “Pretty much all of it went to that person and my client didn’t get it back.

“Not only did he put his own liberty in jeopardy, he didn’t get any benefit from it.”

Mr McQuillan admitted it was a “substantial” sum of money, but said that apart from one road traffic matter Gorman had no previous convictions.

Sheriff Liam Murphy told Gorman: “Your actions involved a clear breach of trust and I must consider whether a custodial sentence is appropriate.

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“I take account of the very full criminal justice social work report, your guilty plea, which saved witnesses coming to court, and the fact you have shown remorse.

“You describe your actions as stupid, according to the report. In all the circumstances, I’ll impose a community-based sentence as a direct alternative to custody.”

The sheriff ordered Gorman to start repaying the cash at £250 per month, but Mr McQuillan said he hopes to pay off a “substantial” sumshortly on top of that.