Latest news with #Bennie
STV News
3 days ago
- Business
- STV News
Woman who stole from charity and family business ordered to pay back £36,000
A woman who stole thousands of pounds from a children's charity and family-run coffee business has been ordered to repay more than £36,000. Beverley Bennie was jailed in January after admitting to embezzling £96,000 from Kids Come First and Myrtle Coffee in Kirkcaldy. The 37-year-old was sentenced to 20 months in prison with the court now making a confiscation order of £36,000. Bennie was employed as a business manager with Myrtle Coffee, which supplies wholesale coffee and vending services. The job gave her access to the company's system, and she was responsible for the petty cash as well as an electronic cash account. The court was told that a fixed float of £20,000 was always held in the company safe and was also the responsibility of Bennie. A financial review in August 2023 found the safe only contained £7,610. An audit then revealed Bennie had carried out numerous fraudulent transactions between September 2017 and September 2023. Company officials discovered she had inflated the values of genuine receipts, reversed some transactions, fabricated receipts, created false accounts and employed other methods to reduce and manipulate the petty cash balance. The total amount stolen by Bennie was calculated to be £83,599.93. The court was also told that in 2018, Bennie took on the role of treasurer with Kids Come First, a charity based at the Benarty Centre in Ballingry, Fife. In 2021, it was revealed the charity had limited cash reserves and some staff members could not be paid. Fife Council then instructed a forensic accountant to examine the accounts, and the results showed a number of unauthorised cash transfers totalling £12,771.69 made by accused between December 2020 and September 2021. Bennie has been given six months to pay the confiscation order which can be revisited if further assets are identified in the future. This will be paid towards the full amount she was found to have benefitted from the crimes. Sineidin Corrins, deputy procurator fiscal for specialist casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: 'Beverley Bennie was convicted of crimes that displayed a betrayal of trust by someone who had financial oversight of funds from a children's charity and a family business. 'She showed no regard for the impact her crimes would have on vulnerable children or the effect it would have on those trying to run an honest business. 'We take such criminality very seriously. This confiscation order shows that the Crown will not stop at prosecution. 'Even after that conviction was secured, the Crown pursued Proceeds of Crime action to ensure funds she obtained illegally were confiscated. 'Confiscation orders have ongoing financial consequences, meaning we can seek to recover further assets from this individual in the future to reflect the full amount. 'These funds will be added to those already gathered from Proceeds of Crime and will be re-invested in Scottish communities through the CashBack for Communities programme.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
The Courier
3 days ago
- Business
- The Courier
Thursday court round-up — £36k cash grab from kids charity swindler
A woman jailed for stealing thousands of pounds from a children's charity and a family-run coffee firm in Fife has been ordered to repay more than £36,000 under Proceeds of Crime laws. In January 2025, , 37, was sentenced to 20 months in prison after she admitted embezzling a total of £96,371 from Kids Come First and vending firm Myrtle Coffee in Kirkcaldy. At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, a confiscation order for £36,036.50 was made, to be paid in six months. Further assets can be seized in future if they become available to Bennie. Sineidin Corrins, Deputy Procurator Fiscal for Specialist Casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: 'Beverley Bennie was convicted of crimes that displayed a betrayal of trust by someone who had financial oversight of funds from a children's charity and a family business. 'She showed no regard for the impact her crimes would have on vulnerable children or the effect it would have on those trying to run an honest business. 'We take such criminality very seriously. This confiscation order shows that the Crown will not stop at prosecution. 'These funds will be added to those already gathered from Proceeds of Crime and will be re-invested in Scottish communities through the CashBack for Communities programme.' Bennie had been a business manager with Myrtle Coffee, which supplies wholesale coffee and vending services and was responsible for petty cash and an electronic cash account. Cash was found to be missing from the safe and during an audit, it was revealed Bennie had carried out numerous fraudulent transactions between September 2017 and September 2023, totalling £83,599.93. The court was also told that in 2018, Bennie took on the role of treasurer with Kids Come First, a charity based at the Benarty Centre in Ballingry. In 2021, it was revealed the charity had limited cash reserves and some staff members could not be paid. Fife Council instructed a forensic accountant to investigate and unauthorised cash transfers totalling £12,771.69 by accused between December 2020 and September 2021 were discovered. A Perthshire businessman who claimed to have created the Queen's favourite brew at 'Scotland's first tea plantation' has been convicted of an elaborate £550k fraud. – better known as Tam O'Braan – made up awards and qualifications to blag sales from some of the country's top hotels and stores including the Dorchester, the Balmoral and Fortnum and Mason. The father-of-four also duped growers from around Scotland into buying Camellia Sinesis tea plants from his remote facility in the hills of Amulree, south of Aberfeldy. In reality, the crops were purchased wholesale from a plantation in northern Italy. Read details of the amazing trial here. A habitual thief stole a £900 drill from a Perth industrial store. , 33, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court to be sentenced for the theft, as well as hits at three city Co-ops. He stole £63 worth of alcohol from the Tulloch store on March 16 last year, groceries and cigarettes worth £143 from the North Muirton branch three days later and cigarettes worth £242 from the Letham store the following day. On April 8 last year, he stole the drill from Highland Industrial Supplies at the city's Inveralmond Industrial estate. Prosecutor Elizabeth Hodgson said the accused would enter the Co-ops and pretend he was buying the items. When his card declined, he would just leave with the items. When he stole the drill by exploiting the 'on-tick type of purchasing,' Blyth was working as a plumber and was known to staff. Solicitor Lyndsey Barber said: 'He's taken steps – not just lip service.' Blyth, of Nimmo Place, was placed on a six-month curfew by Sheriff Clair McLachlan at Perth Sheriff Court. She said: 'You're sailing close to the custodial wind.' A pair of undercover police officers thwarted a Dundee paedophile's attempts to groom children on social media. , 40, sent a string of nauseating messages to two profiles he believed were an underage boy and girl. A creep who believed he was talking to a child bombarded an undercover police officer with a slew of sexual messages. , 35, is now a registered sex offender after he admitted trying to indecently communicate with a child for more than two months from his Fife home. Dundee Sheriff Court was told how Kerr thought he was talking to a 14-year-old girl on the adult chat room site Chat Avenue. The 'girl's' profile picture included a photo of her in school uniform, with her age clearly stated in the biography. Fiscal depute Stewart Duncan said Kerr 'went into in-depth descriptions' of sexual abuse he wished to carry out on the child. Kerr, of Crossgate, Cupar, pled guilty to repeatedly sending messages of a sexual nature and making reference to sexual activity while trying to communicate indecently with a child between November 25 2024 and January 28 this year. Sheriff Alastair Carmichael deferred sentencing on Kerr until next month for a social work report to be prepared and made him subject to the sex offenders register on an interim basis. A Perthshire chef has been jailed for historical sexual abuse. Thomas McPhee, the former head chef and manager at the Red Brolly Inn in Ballinluig, has been imprisoned for 58 weeks after admitting offences against two teenagers in the mid-2000s.
Daily Record
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Record
Woman who embezzled £96k from kids' charity and family business to repay just £36,000
Beverley Bennie, 37, swiped nearly £100,000 from the charity but has been ordered to repay just £36,036.50. A woman who embezzled nearly £100,000 from a kids' charity and family business has been ordered to repay just £36,000. Beverley Bennie, 37, swiped a total of £96,371 from Kids Come First and vending firm Myrtle Coffee in Kirkcaldy, Fife. She was jailed for 20 months after admitting the crime earlier this year. And yesterday, Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court ordered her to repay a sum of £36,036.50 to communities under Proceeds of Crime laws. Bennie was given six months to pay the confiscation order. The order can be revisited if further assets are identified in the future to be paid towards the full amount due back to the charity. Sineidin Corrins, Deputy Procurator Fiscal for Specialist Casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: 'Beverley Bennie was convicted of crimes that displayed a betrayal of trust by someone who had financial oversight of fu n ds from a children's charity and a family business. 'She showed no regard for the impact her crimes would have on vulnerable children or the effect it would have on those trying to run an honest business. 'We take such criminality very seriously. This confiscation order shows that the Crown will not stop at prosecution. 'Even after that conviction was secured, the Crown pursued Proceeds of Crime action to ensure funds she obtained illegally were confiscated. ' Confiscation orders have ongoing financial consequences, meaning we can seek to recover further assets from this individual in the future to reflect the full amount. 'These funds will be added to those already gathered from Proceeds of Crime and will be re-invested in Scottish communities through the CashBack for Communities programme.' During a previous hearing, the court heard how Bennie worked as a business manager with Myrtle Coffee, which supplies wholesale coffee and vending services. Her role gave her access to the firm's system, and she was responsible for the petty cash as well as an electronic cash account. A fixed float of £20,000 was always held in the company safe, which was also the responsibility of Bennie. But after a financial review in August 2023, it was discovered a substantial amount of cash was missing from the safe as it only contained £7,610. An audit then revealed Bennie had carried out numerous fraudulent transactions between September 2017 and September 2023. Company officials discovered she had inflated the values of genuine receipts, reversed some transactions, fabricated receipts, created false accounts and employed other methods to reduce and manipulate the petty cash balance. The total amount obtained by the fraudster was £83,599.93. The court was also told that in 2018, Bennie took on the role of treasurer with Kids Come First, a charity based at the Benarty Centre in Ballingry, Fife. In 2021, it was revealed the charity had limited cash reserve s and some staff members could not be paid. Fife Council then instructed charity bosses to hire a forensic accountant to examine the accounts and locate the missing cash. The damning results showed a number of unauthorised cash transfers totalling £12,771.69 made by Bennie between December 2020 and September 2021.
The Herald Scotland
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Coatbridge men's steamy Highland holiday in hot tub heaven Glen Clova
Glen Clova Hotel and LodgesCadam Lodge awaited our presence. One of our destination Glen Clova Hotel's larger abodes, this spacious adult playhut was pleasingly minimalist and tasteful, albeit with drawers full of Gino D'Acampo kitchenware. Despite his vanishing act from TV, the cheeky chappie's cultural omnipresence endures. An old-school amoral crustacean himself, Bennie had no qualms about wrapping his sweaty hands around Gino's glistening utensils in this plush abode, and was soon attempting to rearrange our internal architecture with a beef chili hotter than the welcome that awaits the cancelled Italian in hell. (Image: Cadam Lodge's spacious interior) Cooling down with a couple of cans of medicinal Tennents lager, another bubbling pot then awaited us in the form of Cadam's hot tub which boasted a full panoramic view of the glen's flora and fauna. As slippery warm foam rippled over, under and around the islands of flesh formed by our near-naked bodies, neither Bennie or I choose to formally address the homoerotic overtones of our current scenario. Quelling any awkwardness by simply lowering our voices an octave, we grunted in a manly manner about manly things, how surfactants in the water contribute to bubble formation by reducing surface tension and trapping air – and also how the water jets that provide the intense massage are powered by a dedicated blower. Certainly, our middle-aged shoulder and back pain began to evaporate, hypertension techno heartrates eased their tempo to a more languid reggae rhythm and pinball-esque manic thought patterns were allayed with deep ingestions of fresh mountain air, the Highlands' own natural benzodiazepine. Bliss. Until Bennie stood up so quickly – instantaneously – that it was like watching Neo in The Matrix. The water soon caught up with his movement, sending floods of chlorinated man stew cascading over the edges of the tub. His mouth then twisted cruelly, unleashing a torrent of toxic Anglo-Saxon exclamations. I raised a wee Roger Moore-esque eyebrow as Bennie then thrust his hand into his Bermuda shorts pocket. What, I wondered, was he reaching into his bloomers to show me? To my surprise – and relief – he held a dripping, dead mobile phone aloft, the device having blooped its last bleep in his submerged pocket. Following another brutal assault on the Queen's English that sent the birds fleeing from their branches, Bennie let out a mournful wail, I imagine reminiscent of the Creator's final requiem for the universe as the last star in the last galaxy blinks out of existence. (Image: Bennie pictured seconds before realising his phone was in his pocket) Warm welcome HOT tubs and home-made chili are not the only things emanating warmth at Glen Clova. It also radiates from the people who live and work there. From the moment Bennie and I arrived, we were instantly attuned to the vibration of Highland hospitality emanating from the wonderful Glen Clova team – Mhairi, Jenny, Angus, Khali, Tegan, Caiden and Elise amongst others – whose collective synergy was that of a highly amenable yet singular Scottish sitcom family. Hospitality here isn't transactional; it's tribal. You're not a guest. You're temporarily part of the family. Nowhere is this more obvious than at the dining table. While demolishing a generously-filled steak pie (succulent Angus beef that I was assured was locally-sourced. I could probably see its relatives out the window) we struck up a conversation with a couple at the next table. 'We come here four times a year,' they smiled in unison, both radiant with the satisfied glow of folk who undoubtedly got their vegetables as children and had invested their enviable inheritance in enough dubious stocks to embrace semi-retirement while still youthful enough to enjoy it. Fair play. With all food hunted locally where possible (pheasants and deer are both in plentiful supply) and boasting a surprisingly inventive menu, Glen Clova's gastronomy manages the rare feat of being both comfortingly traditional and slyly modern. The venison pakora alone is worth the trip – delicately spiced, rich, succulent and served with a distinctive dip that was a fusion of both India and Inverness. The culinary theme was clear: rootsy generosity with casual flair. The hospitable and homely Climbers Bar pours a fine pint too – or glass of locally-produced gin – and is often packed with walkers and guests, who have the choice of staying over inside the hotel itself, its nine luxury lodges or three elegant houses, all with private hot tubs and some even with saunas. (Image: Climber's Bar) Originally dating from the 1850s, Glen Clova has been a vital stop-off for cyclists, ramblers and hillwalkers for many decades – and little wonder, being located just a few minutes walk from the River South Esk, within easy drive of multiple golf courses and actual civilisation in nearby Forfar. As a child of the central belt, I admit the only Glen I was ever familiar with was Glen Michael's Cavalcade – a low-budget kids TV Dahliseque fever dream. Yet here was a glen of such cinematic scale it made even childhood memories, where the sun is always shining and goalposts are made of jumpers, look grayscale by comparison. The glen itself is a broad, glacier-hewn sweep of neon green, flanked by stoic hills and brushed with a glowing, near-ethereal purple heather-haze. It's shaped not just by the land but by time: handiwork of the last Ice Age terraforming a sanctuary that's both dramatic and comforting. It's also a place where you can do as much or as little as you like. Those inclined towards physical exertion rather than hot tub dwelling will find mountain trails like Mayar and Driesh, routes that climb from the valley floor to cloud-brushed summits. (Image: The stunning surrounds of Glen Clova) For bloodthirsty types, there's fly-fishing on the River South Esk, stalking and deer safaris and enough wildlife to make you reach for your binoculars like a Victorian naturalist or high-rise flat voyeur. Hikes range from gentle lochside ambles to soul-destroying scrambles up Munro summits. There's also fishing, shooting, cycling, shooting, birdwatching, shooting or simply sitting somewhere scenic while pretending to read a book you have no intention of finishing. And shooting. But even if you never leave your lodge, you'll likely achieve some sort of communion with nature at Glen Clova – and perhaps find peace with any anxieties caused by the realisation we are all spinning around a nuclear furnace on a wee stone in the middle of infinity. Heavenly weddings GIVEN its location and the hospitality on offer, it's little wonder this picture-perfect resort is also fast becoming one of Scotland's best-kept secrets for hosting weddings – but not for long, I suspect. At the time of our visit, lavish yet rootsy new venue The Barn was under construction. Think rustic grandeur with twinkling lights, Highland charm and a location so heavenly that there's a chance God himself might pop down and carry out the service. Events of up to 120 guests are available, however smaller nuptials are also possible. For those seeking a more traditional service to guarantee God's permission to spend eternity together in a fluffy-clouded paradise, there's even a picture-perfect wee church – Clove Kirk – on the estate grounds, an Insta-ready venue with enough gravestones scattered around to remind guests to enjoy themselves as it's later than they think. (Image: Glen Clova is a perfect wedding venue) As majestic as Glen Clova is, there are no phone shops. So, an increasingly cranky Bennie suggested we venture into the nearby town of Forfar to abate his symptoms of technological cold turkey. Certainly, life happens at a deliberate pace in this ancient marketplace town yet the streets were bustling and liberally strewn with a selection of unique independent retailers – and a Costa. It wasn't New York, but undoubtedly provided a perfect counterpoint to the solitude of the glen. Whether staying at Glen Clova or exploring the charms of nearby towns, visitors will never be at a loss for activities whether they are thermos-clasping serious ramblers or the sort of walker who likes to intersperse their steps with pints of lager at welcoming hostelries. (Image: Bill is pictured at the Bon Scott statue in Kirriemuir) Exploration beyond the towns rewards curiosity however and there's countless areas of breathtaking natural beauty to discover – such as Corrie Fee with its dramatic cliffs and cascading waterfalls – that won't show up on Google Maps. With apologies to J.M. Barrie, it's really not so unusual that Bon Scott sprang from this soil and became its most famous export. Just like the AC/DC legend, this unique region loudly and proudly earns its place in the spotlight and with the Highlands' spectacular geology turned up to eleven in these tranquil surrounds, even the sound of silence can completely rock your world.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Failure to intervene charges dropped for 3 officers in Christian Glass death
DENVER (KDVR) — Charges were dropped for three more officers in the 2022 death of Christian Glass. A spokesperson for the Colorado Judicial Branch confirmed to FOX31 on Wednesday that charges of failure to intervene in the excessive force of another law enforcement officer were dropped for Idaho Springs police officer Brittany Morrow, former Georgetown police officer Timothy Collins and Colorado State Patrol trooper Ryan Bennie. Similar charges were also dropped for two other officers late last year. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox CSP Col. Matthew C. Packard released the following statement: 'This case began when the Glass family suffered the loss of their son, a loss that should never have occurred. I was very pleased to learn about the agreement reached between the 5th Judicial District Attorney's Office and Trooper Ryan Bennie, specifically that the criminal charges he faced would be dismissed. While I wish the process to arrive at this outcome would have been different, particularly in avoiding an unnecessary criminal charge against Trooper Bennie, I also understand the complexities involved. Our agency will continue its efforts to learn and grow following our involvement in incidents as a part of our drive for continuous improvement. The Colorado State Patrol is glad to have Trooper Bennie continue his professional service to the people of Colorado as a member of our agency.' The charges stemmed from June 2022, when Glass' car broke down in Clear Creek County and he called for help. During the call, he told dispatchers that he had possible weapons in his car, including knives and a hammer, which his family said were for an amateur geology trip. Several law enforcement officers responded. Body-worn camera footage showed that deputies with the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office broke a window of his vehicle, shot him with bean bags and used a Taser against him before a deputy shot him six times. More than a dozen officers faced charges in the case. Former Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office deputy Andrew Buen was convicted of criminally negligent homicide in Glass' death and was sentenced to three years in the Department of Corrections. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
