Sin Bin: Oil finance chief jailed over £1.3m embezzlement

Jacqueline McPhie, 46, who earned a salary of £150,000 a year at the time of the offence, took the money while she was working at Altus Intervention in Aberdeen between March 2013 and April 2014.

The oil executive broke down as judge Lady Wise branded her “greedy” for swindling her bosses out of nearly £1.4million for the sole purpose of living a life of luxury.

McPhie, of Arbroath, had earlier admitted stealing £1,376,935 whilst working as the vice-president for finance at Altus because her former husband’s company was not making much money.

But the high court had earlier heard that she diverted money from the business, which supplies equipment for North Sea oil and gas projects, to fund her lifestyle.

She bought an £80,000 Range Rover, and spent more than £60,000 on a new garage and driveway, £52,000 on a kitchen and £30,000 on a summer house in her garden.

The court also heard that she had previously been given 300 hours of community service 16 years ago for stealing £250,000 from previous employers.

When she appeared for sentencing, defence advocate Tony Lenehan told judge Lady Wise that his client was “very unhappy” at the time of her offending behaviour.

Speaking as McPhie sat in the dock weeping and holding her head in her hands, Mr Lenehan added: “She was in a very unhappy relationship. She feels that she was placed under pressure to provide wealth for her family unit.”

Lady Wise said she had considered a report on McPhie and Mr Lenehan’s submissions, but had no alternative but to impose a custodial sentence on this occasion.

The judge told McPhie: “You are 46 years old and had what many people would regard as an enviable existence.

“You enjoyed a salary of almost £150,000 per annum, you were married with a child, your husband also had work.

“Your motivation can only have been greed, to have even more material wealth than your position allowed you to accrue. It is of considerable concern that this is not your first conviction for a dishonesty offence.

“You have a previous conviction for embezzlement, also of a significant sum dating from 2000 when you were given a non custodial sentence. That experience did not deter you from further similar criminal conduct.”