A DUMBARTON man has been caught embezzling more than £7,500 from a local church while he was acting as its treasurer.

William Watson kept the cash for himself during 11 months in the post at Cardross Parish Church.

The 62-year-old appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Friday after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to embezzling a total of £7,655 from church funds.

His criminal behaviour came to light after an inspection of the church’s books by a chartered accountant uncovered a number of inaccuracies – prompting Watson, of Oxhill Road, to confess his guilt to the church’s minister and resign from the position.

He appeared before Sheriff Maxwell Hendry on Friday after a background report from social workers was provided to the court.

Meghan Glancey, prosecuting, told the hearing: “The accused assumed the role of treasurer at Cardross Parish Church in April 2017.

“In February 2018 a chartered accountant was reviewing accounts from the church and found a variety of inaccuracies.

“The accounts were returned to the accused, who attended at the office of the accountant in March 2018 to discuss a number of transactions which did not have receipts.

“The accused met the minister of the parish church and made admissions to being responsible for the misappropriation of church funds of £4,045, and indicated he would be resigning from his role.

“Four days later the minister received an email from the accused. This contained admissions to the misappropriation of a further £3,610, bringing the total to £7,655.”

Ms Glancey said the church’s minister contacted police a day later to report the matter.

Watson’s solicitor told the court his client “wishes to convey his remorse and profound apologies” to the church.

That statement prompted Sheriff Maxwell Hendry to ask: “He says in the [social work] report that his intention was to repay the money before he was caught. Would he have been so remorseful if he had got away with it?

“This happened after the problems had been detected by a third party. It’s no that, in his guilt and remorse, he volunteered that he had committed criminal offences.”

Watson's solicitor continued: “This started off with him taking a sum he hoped would be repaid soon, and thereafter it snowballed.

“He was in deep financial difficulty. He had his own company, but was made bankrupt. He had a mortgage on his home but lost that property.

“He had no long-term employment, and got into deeper and deeper financial difficulty.

“He is no longer at the church.”

On being asked by the sheriff how Watson was going to repay the money, the defence lawyer said his client was in a position to pay £500 towards the sum embezzled, and was able to save about £300 a month.

Sheriff Hendry replied: “My first concern is to see that the innocent party is paid back the funds as soon as possible. The court will have to put Mr Watson to the test.”

Turning to address Watson directly, the sheriff said: “I suspect there is very little I can say that you have not already thought about yourself.

“When I started in this profession, this type of prosecution would most probably have ended up in the High Court.

“It’s shameful conduct. Now you need to do what you can to put the matter into the best possible situation.”

Watson was ordered to return to court in April, when he will be expected to show that he has put more money aside to repay the church.