Boots thief avoids prison

Ashleigh Traquair (24), from Motherwell, began suffering financial difficulties and decided the best way to solve the problem was to steal from her employers.

She was working as a cashier in the Boots branch in East Kilbride where she took from the tills over a five-month period.

Traquair appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court today (Wednesday) and admitted embezzling £11,000 from Boots UK between October and February.

She was originally charged with stealing £20,370, but her guilty plea to a lesser amount was accepted by prosecutors.

Sheriff Marie Smart spared her jail after hearing Traquair was able to pay the money back to the company in instalments of £400 a month.

She will appear back in court in February to reveal how much cash she has handed over while her family have also pledged to help her pay back the cash.

Andy Thomson, defending, said: “This is a very anxious matter for the accused because of the amount of money involved and her current financial circumstances.

“She is now working again and knows the only way she can really escape a custodial sentence is by continuing to work and she tells me she is working every hour of overtime available.”

Sheriff Smart said: “I will defer sentence for six months for you to be of good behaviour and for you to start making progress repaying the money back.”