Hard up Grangemouth offender pinched over £6600 from her gran to pay for telly subscriptions

Appearing at Falkirk Sheriff Court on Thursday, Denise French, 37, had pleaded guilty to fraud – stealing £6669.57 from her grandmother – between August 21, 2020 and April 16, 2021.

Procurator fiscal depute Bernadette Cuthbertson said: “On April 16, 2021 the complainer could not find her bank card – she hadn’t seen it for two weeks. She cancelled the card and looking at the mini statement noticed there was considerably less money in her account.

"There had been 148 transactions including ones paying EBay PayPal, Amazon, Sky and Netflix. The accused admitted she had made all the payments and set up direct debits. She didn’t have permission to use the card.”

The court heard TSB had refunded the full £6669.57 to French’s grandmother and there was little or no likelihood of French making any repayments to the bank.

Gordon Addison, defence solicitor, said French had a “sense of shame” and realised what she had done was “very wrong”.

"It was a time when she was struggling financially,” added Mr Addison. “She’s now lost the support and contact with her family.”

Sheriff Craig Harris noted the offence was carried out over a period of eight months when French was entrusted with her grandmother’s finances.

"You abused your position of trust and the vulnerability of your gran,” he added.

French, 9 Alexander Avenue, Grangemouth, was placed on a supervised community payback order for 18 months with the condition she complete 180 hours of unpaid work in that time.