Kirk treasurer embezzled £70,000 from her local church

Janet Farquhar, 70, helped herself from the accounts of Chalmers Memorial Church in Port Seton, East Lothian, for about eight years before her crimes came to light when the parish became unable to pay its annual Ministries and Mission contribution to the Church of Scotland.

Farquhar, from Cockenzie, pled guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to embezzling £72,155.34 from Chalmers Memorial between January 16, 2008, and July 11, 2016.

Fiscal depute Rachel Adey told Sheriff Peter Braid that in June 10, 2016, the executive treasurer of the Church of Scotland’s Finance Committee submitted a report on a number of congregations who were behind in their contributions to the kirk.

The report highlighted Chalmers Memorial as having significant dues and a number of letters were sent to Farquhar, but she never replied.

Ms Adey said more letters were sent asking for reasons for missing payments and offering assistance to solve any issues.

There was no reply by July 2016, but in August that year, Farquhar contacted the Church saying she would: “look into the issues of where payments had gone”.

On August 15, 2016, Farquhar was questioned about the payments and replied that the Bank of Scotland was “looking into it”.

The Church of Scotland contacted an elder of Chalmers Memorial Church, who worked in the Bank of Scotland, asking if she could find out where the money had been going.

The elder discovered that some of the payments were actually statements from 2013 and the year had been altered.

She also found that two cheques for £345 and £385 had been cashed by Farquhar at the Prestonpans branch of the bank, and in September 2016, Farquhar was removed from her position as the church’s treasurer.

Further investigations showed that between 2008 and 2016, Farquhar had taken £59,752.34 by cashing cheques and a further £12,403 from the church’s collection money.

The fiscal depute said that so far Farquhar had repaid £15,000 to the church.

Sheriff Braid deferred sentence on Farquhar until April 30 for reports and continued her bail.