Dundee bank manager who stole £90,000 from his branch is jailed

A bank manager who stole nearly £90,000 from his branch to pay for holidays and luxury goods has been jailed for 22 months.

Gordon Irvine also paid £250 to a customer who complained about a £25 charge before sleeping with her that night.

Irvine took the money from the back of an ATM in Dundee's Lochee High Street.

His lawyer told Dundee Sheriff Court that he "still protests his innocence" despite his conviction.

Irvine, a father-of-two, paid for trips to New York, Lanzarote and Rio de Janiero in cash - but wasn't even able to take the trip to Brazil because he couldn't get time off work.

He also paid £6,900 for a car, a year's rent and council tax in cash, and fitted out his flat with a pool table and three 50in TVs. He also bought his girlfriend Ugg boots.

In one instance, Irvine told a customer who complained about a £25 charge that she was "beautiful", but said he couldn't do anything about her issue. Later that night he called her and said: "Check your bank account."

When she did, she found a £250 credit courtesy of Irvine. He then asked if he could come round to her home, and the two began a sexual relationship.

One former colleague who asked Irvine if he had "won the lottery" was told to check his account by the thief, and he subsequently found a deposit for £5,000.

Irvine was caught after security staff emptying the ATM noticed huge cash discrepancies and launched an investigation.

Investigators found £41,000 in his bank account. Fiscal depute Nicola Gillespie told a jury at Dundee Sheriff Court: "He did not have some benefactor putting money in his account like some Charles Dickens Great Expectations story.

"He was living a Walter Mitty lifestyle. It is no coincidence the bank lost £89,000 during this time and £41,000 was found in Mr Irvine's account.

"It is no coincidence that the losses end when he leaves. And it is no coincidence that when Mr Irvine was taken from his property and the keys to the branch taken from him, the issues stopped.

"He was asked by colleagues if he had won the lottery. He had not won the lottery - it was coming from under their noses."

Irvine, 33, of Broxburn, West Lothian, denied a charge of embezzling £89,340 from the Santander branch in High Street, Lochee, between 1 November 2010 and 30 June 2011.

A jury of nine men and six women took 90 minutes to find him guilty by majority. Sheriff Alistair Carmichael jailed Irvine for 22 months.

He said: "The essence of this is you took money for your own purposes and breached the trust of the bank and their customers as you were trusted with the safety of that money."

Irvine glanced at family on the public benches but showed no emotion as he was led in handcuffs to the cells.