A CROOKED accountant who embezzled more than £40,000 from a family firm while the owner was critically ill has escaped a jail sentence.

Douglas McAllister was brought in as financial director of fabric firm Mandors after Karen Deutsch suffered an aneurysm.

The 48-year-old Eaglesham man used the opportunity to steal £42,395 from the business, using a company credit card to buy personal items – including a new car.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that, as well as using the credit card, McAllister wrote cheques to cash.

The married father-of-three also diverted BACS transfers from customers to his personal account.

Opened in Glasgow in 1977, Mandors is owned by Mrs Deutsch and her husband Michael, who were both in court to see McAllister in the dock.

McAllister was employed as financial director between 2007 and December 2014.

He had previously been the firm’s auditor but was brought in-house following Mrs Deutsch’s health troubles.

Procurator fiscal depute Elizabeth Aitken told the court McAllister had “total control of all finances”.

His spending spree, from February 2012 to November 2014, was uncovered in a routine check of company email accounts.

McAllister had used the company credit card to treat his mistress, a fellow employee.

And he left their sex tapes behind in his office after he was sacked.

When McAllister returned to court last week to learn his fate, Sheriff Kenneth Hogg agreed to impose a non-custodial sentence after hearing he has borrowed cash to pay back the money he stole.

Instead of going to jail, McAllister will wear a tag for six months, keeping him at his home between 6pm and 6am, seven days a week.

He was also ordered to complete 275 hours of unpaid work in the community within six months and will be supervised by social work for 18 months.

Sheriff Hogg told him: “This was a particularly mean-spirited crime.

“You took advantage of a medical crisis in a company to embezzle a significant sum.

“This wasn’t an isolated incident, this was a well thought-out, premeditated crime.”