A VALE man was sacked from his hotel management job after he was found to have been embezzling cash from the business.

Robert Forrest rang up refunds on customers’ meals and then pocketed the cash for himself in a bid to ease his own financial problems.

But he was fired from his senior role at the Loch Lomond Arms Hotel in Luss after his deception came to light.

The 34-year-old was spared jail when he appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court last week.

Forrest, of Tudhope Crescent in Alexandria, appeared in court on Friday to be sentenced after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to a charge of embezzling £1,222.20 from the hotel in the centre of the village while employed as its bar and catering manager.

The offence was committed between April 25 and May 29 last year.

Fiscal depute Scott Simpson told the court: “A number of suspicious transactions took place, which were evidenced by receipts, and there was also CCTV evidence.

“The accused was confronted by management and admitted taking the cash.

“He faced up to his responsibilities. But it goes without saying that this is a situation where somebody was in a position of trust, and he breached that trust.”

Forrest’s solicitor, Scott Adair, said: “He was refunding a meal and taking the cash.

“He hasn’t been in employment since this incident and is unlikely to gain employment in the future."

Mr Adair said there had been no repayment of the cash because of Forrest’s financial circumstances, which Sheriff John Hamilton described as “dire”.

Sheriff Hamilton placed Forrest under social workers’ supervision until June 2019 and ordered him to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work within 12 months.