A CLEANER has been cleared of swiping almost £4,000 from an elderly client and a colleague.

Donna Gifford, of Barwood Drive, Erskine, was said to have taken £3,900 from the accounts of Muriel Todd and Linda Moir after getting hold of their bank cards.

Prosecutors claimed she used Mrs Moir’s card at a cash machine at the Spar store in Bargarran Square, Erskine, on May 15, 2017, and again the next day.

It was also alleged that, on the same day, she used the card at the Post Office in Bargarran Square and then at the Bank of Scotland in Bridgewater Shopping Centre, Erskine, taking a total of £800 from her colleague’s account.

Ms Gifford was also said to have stolen a card from 85-year-old Mrs Todd at Blantyre Court, Erskine, whilst working as a cleaner.

And she was said to have used that between August and October 2017 to steal a total of £3,100.

Ms Gifford, 54, denied the offences and went on trial at Paisley Sheriff Court.

Giving evidence, Mrs Moir said her husband “monitored” their finances and she had received a phone call from him one day in May 2017 to ask if she had lifted any money from their account.

Defence solicitor Peter Burke, representing Ms Gifford, then asked: “You actually asked Donna Gifford to lift that money from your account, didn’t you?

“You were concerned your husband was monitoring your finances and you wanted that money out without him seeing you doing it?”

Mrs Moir denied those claims, as well as claims from Ms Gifford’s lawyer that his client had been given her card and PIN number.

Clydesdale Bank fraud investigator Louise Travis-Jones was also called to give evidence and conceded, under cross-examination from Mr Burke, that she didn’t know if the locations attributed to the cash transactions were correct, as she was not the one who installed the ATMs or uploaded their details to computer systems used by the firm.

After evidence was led, prosecutor Frank Clarke told Sheriff Frances McCartney he was no longer seeking a conviction.

Ms Gifford, who maintained her innocence, was then acquitted and told she was free to leave the dock.