East Kilbride HMRC worker stole £200,000 to pay debts using taxpayer's details

A tax worker from East Kilbride stole £200,000 to pay off debts — using taxpayer's details.

Joanne Connell stole the money to pay off her mortgage and other debts by using taxpayer's details to create fake credits and then transferred the money to her personal bank account.

Connell, 37 appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Friday (November 22), after telling investigators the scam cleared "pretty much all" of her mortgage, the Daily Record reports.

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Connell admitted embezzling £193,00 between April 22, 2022, and April 1 the following year. Connell had been accused of taking £291,499 but her guilty plea was accepted to the lower amount.

Neil Thomson, prosecuting, said she worked for HMRC for around 15 years and held various roles during that time, including in the bankruptcy team and in self-assessment returns. It appeared she committed the crime on an HMRC laptop while working from home and recovering from meningitis.

Records showed she first transferred £500 to her account but Mr Thomson told the court: "The sums then increased and she transferred £35,000 on four occasions.

"Connell was off work from June 6, 2022, to April 1, 2023. She is believed to have contracted meningitis and was admitted to hospital with a bleed to the brain that developed into an abscess.

"At that time she told her managers she had difficulty understanding and following instructions, but it seems she continued to perpetrate this crime during her sick leave.

"When arrested she admitted the fraudulent activity and said she had around £100,000 of debts to pay off. Asked how much of her mortgage she had managed to pay off, she replied 'Pretty much all of it'."

Investigators found she'd cleared £80,000 of the mortgage and £10,000 of other debts. She had also given money to her aunt and £14,000 to her next-door neighbour's partner.

Sheriff John Hamilton KC deferred sentence until January for background reports and an electronic tagging assessment. Connell, who has no previous convictions, had her bail continued.

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