Woman embezzled £350k from British Red Cross under guise of sending money to former delegates and staff

Paisley Sheriff Court heard that Mary Booth was “a trusted and valued” employee for 34 years, initially working at the charity’s London headquarters.

She earned £45,000 per year and retired with a full pension and lump sum after moving to the Scottish HQ in Paisley.

But the greedy 56-year-old siphoned almost £360,000 from the charity’s accounts, which she paid into her own bank accounts.

Booth claims she carried out the scam so she could continue to fund her online gambling habit after splitting from her husband.

But she now faces jail and may have to sell her £350,000 home to pay back the money.

The details emerged when Booth appeared in the dock to admit her guilt.

She pleaded guilty to embezzling £359,551 between November 1, 2008, and August 31, 2015, at the British Red Cross offices in Smithhills Street, Paisley, and Moorfields, London.

In 2008, the charity’s payroll staff relocated from London to Paisley.

Procurator fiscal depute Scot Dignan explained: “The accused was payroll manager during this time and was in a position of trust.”

“She retired in August 2015.

“The locus for this offence is the headquarters at 1 Smithhills Street, in Paisley, and also 44 Moorfield, in London.

“Payroll was gradually centralised to the Paisley office.”

Booth had access to the charity’s bank accounts and payment systems, allowing her to send money to herself.

In February last year, once Booth had retired, Deborah McBean, the charity’s head of control and compliance, noticed irregularities in payments from the year before.

Eamonn O’Donnell, the charity’s head of transactional operations, became involved and discovered there was “no appropriate paperwork” attached to a number of suspect transactions.

A full investigation and audit was launched and, during the probe, Booth’s crime came to light.

Mr Dignan explained: “Mrs Booth had embezzled sums from the charity’s accounts and salary payments for foreign delegates’ payments and current and former employees into bank accounts in her own name.”

She transferred £13,500 in the name of Roxanda Tanase, a Romanian delegate, and then £19,622 in the name of Alan Farr, an employee who died in late 2014.

Booth made a total of four payments in his name to her account, all between September and December 2014, around the time of his death.

Between November 2008 and October 2014, she sent herself 34 payments, totaling £139,500, in the name of Kathryn Locket, who was a delegate for three months in 2005.

Two payments were made in the name of Mary Boyd, both in July 2015, for a total of £11,437.

Between March 2011 and July 2015, 30 payments, worth £175,451, were made in the name of Nigel Ede - a German delegate.

Once they discovered the money had been embezzled, the British Red Cross had the bank accounts the money had been paid into frozen.

Booth then emailed the charity and asked them to lift the freeze on her TSB and Natwest accounts, saying she would “make an agreement regarding any missing money.” 

The matter was reported to Police Scotland and the Forensic Investigation Unit was called in.

Booth, of Croyden, South London, was later interviewed at her home and admitted her guilt.

Defence solicitor Jonathan Manson said “the most important thing" in the case was to find a way the British Red Cross can be reimbursed.

He added that Booth could get £250,000 from the sale of her £350,000 home and had a further £64,000 in her bank she could give to the charity.

The lawyer said: “The accountants of the Red Cross took such a long time to find this large sum of money had gone missing - it is public money, public funds, and was due to help people abroad.

“It was a ham-fisted plot.

“She was the subject of a fairly acrimonious divorce, had been gambling for a period of time before that and was able to afford it.

“Two incomes became one, she continued with the gambling and tried it once and got away with it and it then simply got out of hand.

“She was shocked and appalled at the figure actually taken - she had no idea.”

Sheriff Seith Ireland called for background reports ahead of sentencing and adjourned the case until next month.

He could jail Booth for up to five years or remit her case to the High Court if he believes a longer sentence is required.

The British Red Cross gives support to needy individuals in many different situations on home and foreign soil, such as tackling major health issues and offering social care and support to vulnerable people.

Other work carried out by the charity includes helping people prepare for and respond to natural disasters, as well as helping refugees and asylum seekers access essential services and adapt to life in a new country.

Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Red Cross, said: “We were devastated to discover that a long-serving employee in a position of trust had defrauded us. 

“Every day we strive to help some of the most vulnerable people in the UK and overseas and for our trust to be abused in this way is really, really disappointing.

“As soon as we identified there was fraudulent activity, we alerted the police and the Charity Commission and undertook an independent forensic financial audit.

“This member of staff operated with our trust and that has given us cause to think long and hard about how we tighten up our procedures. 

“We have taken several important steps to review and further strengthen our financial controls and procedures to prevent this from ever happening again. 

“This includes limiting access to key parts of our financial systems, reducing the ways that payments can be made and tightening controls so that payments can only be generated centrally by a smaller number of people. 

“There are also increased checks on payments which are reviewed before they can be processed. 

“As a result, we are confident that such fraud could not happen now.

“We are deeply shocked that someone from within the Red Cross community would betray our cause and our trust in this way. 

“We are doing everything we can to recover the lost funds.”