Man who stole £124,000 worth of iPads and laptops from NHS and council body avoids jail

A man who stole £124,000 of iPads and laptops destined for vulnerable people from an NHS and council-run body has avoided jail.

Bobby Lee Smith, 37, worked for Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (GHSCP) in an employability role.

Smith took charge of a programme to roll out thousands of electronic devices to its service users during the pandemic.

This included logging on a spreadsheet how many devices had been handed out to organisations.

However, it was discovered that a total of 301 iPads and 129 Chromebook laptops had been unaccounted for.

Smith had also allowed some of the deliveries to arrive at his parents’ home as well as his own house.

It is unknown what happened to the iPads and Chromebooks that were taken.

Smith was found guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court of embezzling a total of £124,644.96 from the GHSCP between July 28, 2020, and July 21, 2021.

Sheriff Shona Gilroy told Smith: “You have had a difficult fall from grace, and there will be consequences for you for the rest of your working life.

“I have to have regard to rehabilitation and punishment and have taken that into account.

“The passage of time has been very significant, and I have listened very carefully to your current circumstances and have concluded I can step back from custody.”

Smith was ordered to do 300 hours of unpaid work and was tagged for nine months, keeping him indoors between 7pm and 7am.

The court heard that Smith, of East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, had been in his employability role from October 2019.

His former direct line manager’s boss told the court that when the pandemic struck, Smith was unable to do his job.

Smith approached the woman about applying for the Connecting Scotland programme.

This programme allowed successful applicants to support their service users with internet use and to prevent “digital exclusion”.

Smith was given a job as a “health improvement lead” to apply for the programme, which ended up successful.

The GHSCP were given a total of 652 Chromebook laptops worth £155,697.50 and 751 iPads priced at £234,131.76.

The organisation was given a string of obligations, which included that the devices would not be owned by staff members.

It was also stipulated that the devices were to be distributed to users within 30 days, and the end user data was to be returned in an online form within 14 days.

A joint minute of agreed evidence between the period of June 4, 2021 and July 12, 2021, was read to jurors.

It was discovered that there was a discrepancy in spreadsheets submitted by Smith of 301 iPads and 129 Chromebooks.

Organisations such as Parenting Services had reported receiving 110 fewer devices than what Smith claimed he had sent them.

Restart Mental Health Services claimed there were 20 fewer devices. Child Services had 69 fewer devices.

In his closing speech to jurors, prosecutor Ryan Watson said: “An odd discrepancy is expected.

“Out of the 22 organisations, only four matched what was issued and what was received.

“Out of the 18 organisations that did not match, 17 of them had less devices than what Smith had said was issued. Only one organisation had more.”

Jurors also heard that some of the devices had been delivered to GHSCP headquarters at Commonwealth House. Two other batches had been delivered to Smith’s home in Croftfoot and his parents’ property in Cathcart.

Mr Watson told jurors: “Smith took advantage of the state of circumstances and obtained access to government funds during the pandemic.

“Working from home allowed him to do this – it gave him the space to proceed with this scheme. There were no bosses looking over his shoulder.”

The trial was told that between June 27 and 30 2021, Smith purchased five iPads and five Chromebooks from Curry’s. There was a refund of five Chromebooks two days later.

Mr Watson went on: “A lack of records meant that he could make the numbers up, and it wasn’t until it became apparent that he was taking devices that he schemed to cover his tracks.

“This was a desperate attempt to pull the wool over your eyes.”

Matters were looked into by the NHS Counter Fraud team, who compared Smith’s spreadsheet with the records of the other organisations before the police became involved.

Jurors were also told that Smith’s direct line manager, who had been in the role since 2009, resigned in the wake of the investigation.

Tony Graham KC, defending, had earlier asked the woman if she knew if his client had knowledge of spreadsheets, stock control management and an organised distribution network.

She replied: “I don’t know.”

It was revealed that Smith’s previous convictions are for road traffic matters.