Heartless Lanarkshire finance worker convicted of stealing £75k from dying boss

A callous Lanarkshire finance worker who claimed her dying boss gave her permission to take company cash has been convicted of stealing £75,000.

Marie Magunnigle, 64, was employed by roads firm Coneworx but investigations after boss John Tiffen passed away revealed she had plundered thousands from their accounts.

Magunnigle had been promoted to financial director to support Tiffen's daughter Ainsley, 32, find her feet as the new boss.

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But a probe was launched after two payments of £1,000 were made to her account with no explanation. An accountant found a string of discrepancies between November 2017 and September 2020 which were ruled 'deliberate and fraudulent'.

Magunnigle was sacked in October 2020 before a further probe revealed she had swiped £10,000 as Tiffen lay in intensive care in hospital.

Magunnigle, of Wishaw, Lanarkshire, denied any wrongdoing and went on trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court but was convicted of embezzling £75,050 by a jury.

Giving evidence to depute fiscal Rebecca Clark, Ainsley Tiffen told how her trust in Magunnigle had been shattered.
She said: "I fully trusted Marie and was shocked and surprised.

"It was very stressful going through the transactions and it showed Marie had paid herself an extra £10,000 on the day they were trying to put my dad onto a ventilator and she would have been fully aware of what was happening."

Tiffen added: "I feel like we were taken advantage of when we were in a very vulnerable situation.

"We fully trusted Marie to make sure the company was running as normal when we were more focused on my dad because he was so ill."

Magunnigle claimed John Tiffen had given her permission to take cash even when he was in intensive care before his death in October 2019.

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She said: "John had already been in hospital and was contacting me back and forward from the hospital and was phoning me from intensive care.

"You could hardly make out what he was saying but, although he was like that, he still knew exactly what was happening and said I was due £10,000.

"I'm asking the jury to believe that all the money was given to me by John Tiffen, there was not a penny went out of that account that he didn't know about."

When asked if she believed Ainsley Tiffen was a liar, Magunnigle replied: "Yes I do say that she's a liar. She wanted me out of the company and this is payback."

The court heard Magunnigle had repaid £83,000 to Coneworx which included solicitor fees and interest.

Sheriff Michael Higgins deferred sentence until next month for reports and continued bail.

Wishaw-based Coneworx provide traffic management systems to clients including local authorities and civil engineers.

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