AN alcoholic embezzled so much money from her employers by squirrelling cash out of the till that the shop she worked in ran at a loss.

Caroline McAuley swiped thousands of pounds over a 15-month period, leaving bosses at the RS McColl store scratching their heads.

She took so much cash that an urgent stock check was carried out – revealing her crimes.

The details emerged last week when 39-year-old McAuley appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court to be sentenced.

She had previously pleaded guilty to embezzling £7,000 from the store in The Avenue Shopping Centre, Newton Mearns, between May 8, 2017, and August 12 last year.

Sentence had been deferred for background reports to be prepared.

Procurator fiscal depute Shona Howie said checks carried out at the store showed it was “running somewhat at a loss and without a reason attributable for that.”

Miss Howie said: “The accused was logged into the tills on a number of occasions when transactions were voided. The accused had been voiding transactions and taking any money attributed to those transactions, taking the sum of £7,000.”

None of the funds was recovered.

Defence solicitor Aimee Doran told Sheriff Mungo Bovey QC that McAuley recognised it was “a very serious matter.”

She said McAuley had made full admissions to police when detained in connection with the matter and had since obtained a new job, earning around £1,400-per-month working for Kura.

The lawyer added: “She tells me it was an act of desperation. Her partner wasn’t working at the time and she was struggling financially.”

However, Sheriff Bovey interjected and said: “She was doing it to fund her alcohol habit.”

Miss Doran replied: “This is not something she has tried to hide behind and made full and frank admissions at her [police] interview.”

Sheriff Bovey could have caged McAuley for up to 12 months or ordered her to carry out unpaid work and repay the cash she swiped.

However, stressing that she has to get herself sober, he opted to place her on a Community Payback Order which will see her supervised by social workers for the next year.