A Scottish mother has been sentenced to 45 months behind bars after stealing £525,000 from the West Lothian car dealership where she worked for seven years.
Kirsty Wilson, 35, deposited more than 1,000 company cheques into her personal bank account whilst employed as an accounts assistant at Ecosse Automotive.
The mother of two pleaded guilty to embezzlement at Falkirk Sheriff Court this week, The Scottish Sun reports.
Her former employers have since updated their company website with a pointed message about their ex-employee. The revised staff biography now states: “Kirsty is currently unavailable. She is serving her sentence at His Majesty’s pleasure and the accounts position is now open.”
Sheriff Maryam Labaki handed down the sentence for what she described as a “prolonged and systemic, grave breach of trust.”
Wilson earned just £12.50 per hour in her role handling the company’s finances.
Her position gave her authority to authorise cheques in owner Diane Paterson’s name for supplier payments valued up to £500.
Instead of directing these funds to legitimate business expenses, she systematically diverted the money into her own account.
Kirsty Wilson deposited more than 1,000 company cheques into her bank account whilst employed at Ecosse Automotive
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The fraud continued undetected for seven years until March 2025, when the company’s bank flagged a suspicious cheque being deposited into Wilson’s personal account.
An investigation revealed she had processed over a thousand fraudulent cheques during her employment.
Police were subsequently contacted and Wilson was taken into custody.
The business owners, married couple Matt Collins and Diane Paterson, both 54, said: “She was cashing cheques every day of the week. She nearly killed us with a thousand paper cuts while pulling the wool over everybody’s eyes.”
The mother of two pleaded guilty to embezzlement at Falkirk Sheriff Court this week
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Wilson used the stolen funds to finance an extravagant lifestyle far beyond her modest wages.
The 35-year-old splashed out on five-star holidays and took her family on trips to Disney theme parks in both Florida and Paris.
According to Matt Collins, she spent approximately £170,000 on renovations to her home and had secured planning permission for a £50,000 extension.
Restaurant bills alone totalled £60,000 over an 18-month period.
The family enjoyed five annual holidays to destinations including Tenerife, Turkey, Portugal and Majorca.
Wilson also treated her daughters to concerts by Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter.
Her husband reportedly attended numerous Rangers away fixtures in European competition, with the couple possessing a framed, signed shirt, programme and ticket from the 2022 Europa League final in Seville between Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt.
The Bo’ness-based couple described Wilson as “devious” and “dangerous” following her imprisonment.
They had employed her as an apprentice when she was 18 and attended her wedding, treating her as part of the family.
Matt Collins said: “We bought her first car, gave her money towards her first home. She thanked us by plunging us into debt.”
Diane Paterson revealed she had invested her own inheritance into the struggling business whilst Wilson continued stealing.
The theft intensified during a period when Paterson took leave following her sister’s death in a road accident.
Wilson also reportedly funded six months off work for her own sister using the embezzled money.
The company faced potential closure two years ago but has since recovered.
Collins confirmed: “We’ve not been in our overdraft since she was caught.”