A GREENOCK mum who embezzled £140,000 while working for Thomas Cook has been jailed.

Alicia Moran stole so many US dollars, Sterling notes and Euros from the travel agent she was initially accused of pocketing nearly £250,000.

The 34-year-old discovered a loophole which allowed her to take as much money as she wanted while altering the accounts to show nothing was missing.

She spent the cash on trips to Florida, New York, Las Vegas, Euro Disney, Spain and Lapland, and tried to offer colleagues probing her a handbag stuffed full of notes when she was caught out.

Her colleagues contacted the police, leading to her being arrested at Glasgow Airport after touching down following a trip to the USA.

She offered to enter into a repayment plan which would see her repaying the money at £40-per-week.

That offer meant it would take her over 67 years to clear the stolen sum.

Moran worked as a foreign exchange sales consultant at the firm’s Braehead branch between February and August 2015.

During that time she processed 140 currency transactions for free, overriding the computer systems so the tills balanced.

She used the cash to go on five holidays, pay off her own debt and that of her partner and his mum.

Moran, pleaded guilty to embezzling £140,000 after the sum was reduced from £241,248 during a Paisley Sheriff Court hearing in October.

Defence solicitor Terry Gallanagh said Moran, had capitalised on a better exchange rate she received as a perk for being a Thomas Cook employee.

He said: “This got very much out of control.

“She started with close family and friends and the matter escalated to pretty much half of Greenock coming to Miss Moran and getting their holiday money.

“The money was paid [to her] but she did not immediately return it and kept it.

“She regrets her conduct and she is under no illusion about what is befalling her.”
As she returned to the dock yesterday to learn her fate Mr Gallanagh asked for Moran to be spared prison, saying she was “deeply sorry and her life is in ruins” and that such a punishment would harm her children. 
But, after hearing that Thomas Cook were waiting until Moran had been sentenced to decide what to do about getting the money back, Sheriff David Pender decided she should be locked up.
As he sentenced her to 18 months, reduced from 24 months because she admitted her guilt, he said: “I can only deal with this by the imposition of a custodial sentence.”