Woman who stole from charity and family business ordered to pay back £36,000

A woman who stole thousands of pounds from a children’s charity and family-run coffee business has been ordered to repay more than £36,000.

Beverley Bennie was jailed in January after admitting to embezzling £96,000 from Kids Come First and Myrtle Coffee in Kirkcaldy.

The 37-year-old was sentenced to 20 months in prison with the court now making a confiscation order of £36,000.

Bennie was employed as a business manager with Myrtle Coffee, which supplies wholesale coffee and vending services.

The job gave her access to the company’s system, and she was responsible for the petty cash as well as an electronic cash account.

The court was told that a fixed float of £20,000 was always held in the company safe and was also the responsibility of Bennie.

A financial review in August 2023 found the safe only contained £7,610. An audit then revealed Bennie had carried out numerous fraudulent transactions between September 2017 and September 2023.

Company officials discovered she had inflated the values of genuine receipts, reversed some transactions, fabricated receipts, created false accounts and employed other methods to reduce and manipulate the petty cash balance.

The total amount stolen by Bennie was calculated to be £83,599.93.

The court was also told that in 2018, Bennie took on the role of treasurer with Kids Come First, a charity based at the Benarty Centre in Ballingry, Fife.

In 2021, it was revealed the charity had limited cash reserves and some staff members could not be paid.

Fife Council then instructed a forensic accountant to examine the accounts, and the results showed a number of unauthorised cash transfers totalling £12,771.69 made by accused between December 2020 and September 2021.

Bennie has been given six months to pay the confiscation order which can be revisited if further assets are identified in the future. This will be paid towards the full amount she was found to have benefitted from the crimes.

Sineidin Corrins, deputy procurator fiscal for specialist casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “Beverley Bennie was convicted of crimes that displayed a betrayal of trust by someone who had financial oversight of funds from a children’s charity and a family business.

“She showed no regard for the impact her crimes would have on vulnerable children or the effect it would have on those trying to run an honest business.

“We take such criminality very seriously. This confiscation order shows that the Crown will not stop at prosecution.

“Even after that conviction was secured, the Crown pursued Proceeds of Crime action to ensure funds she obtained illegally were confiscated.

“Confiscation orders have ongoing financial consequences, meaning we can seek to recover further assets from this individual in the future to reflect the full amount.

“These funds will be added to those already gathered from Proceeds of Crime and will be re-invested in Scottish communities through the CashBack for Communities programme.”