Sin Bin: Edinburgh Uni payroll manager made up fake £14,000 invoice

Henry Emmanuel, 37, tried to have the invoice rushed through saying there would be a complaint if it was not paid.

The university, however, investigated the bill and Emmanuel eventually admitted what he had done.

Emmanuel was given a community payback order with 200 hours unpaid work, and was told his conduct was “disgraceful”.

The court heard that the payroll manager created a false invoice for stuffing and mounting dead animals on 3 August 2015.

Fiscal depute Alex Piper said Emmanuel, of Bathgate, West Lothian, claimed he had only put forward the fictitious invoice to highlight a fault in the university’s payroll system.

But Sheriff William Taylor QC said, “The reason was greed. He thought he could get money for nothing”, before imposing a community payback order with 200 hours unpaid work in the community.

Sheriff Taylor added: “I think you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself. To try to steal money from the university of all places, which provides services to the community is disgraceful”.

He went on: “I thought seriously about sending you to prison. For this kind of disgraceful conduct you deserve to be punished”.

Emmanuel pled guilty previously to creating and submitting a fictitious invoice on August 3 last year. Sentence had been deferred for a social work report.

Emmanuel’s defence solicitor told Sheriff Taylor his client was a first offender and had admitted issuing the false invoice. There was nothing in the social work report to suggest he would be at risk of reoffending, he said, and added: “He wants to put something back into the community”.

The Sheriff responded: “He obviously lied to the Social Work Department. The report says he does not seem to be aware of that. The reason was greed. He thought he could get money for nothing.”

As part of the terms of a community payback order, the 200 hours of unpaid work must be completed within a year.