Scottish accountant embezzled £221,000 from estates

Matthew Varley was caught after he left his job at property consultants Galbraith in June 2015 and his successor at the company spotted that he had been duplicating paid invoices and paying the money into his own account.

Inverness sheriff court heard that Varley, who was receiving counselling for his addictions, sold a home in London to repay the £221.336.

Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood told Verley that his crime required a jail sentence.

In mitigation, Matthew O’Neill, defence solicitor for Varley, unsuccessfully appealed to the sheriff not to jail his client.

At the previous hearing last month Robert Weir, the fiscal depute, said that Varley, 44, of Smithton, Inverness, had transferred money from seven client accounts to one he owned with his wife.

Mr Weir outlined how entries were recorded on the company’s accounts system but had no supporting paperwork. The details of the accounts the money had been paid into had also been deleted. The court was told that the siphoning of funds began with as little as £30 but rose to £5,000.

Mr Weir added that fictitious invoices had been inputted to the accounts software.

The court was told that when Varley was challenged by Galbraith he admitted to the transfers, attributing it to his gambling and drinking problems, as well as depression.

He was jailed for 14 months yesterday after previously admitting embezzling the money between 2010 and 2015.