Karen McCormack took £62,000 from from the South Glasgow Childcare Partnership Forum to fund her gambling habit

A woman is facing jail for embezzling more than £62,000 from a charity to fund a gambling addiction.

Karen McCormack, 49, a former Glasgow City Council employee, took money from the South Glasgow Childcare Partnership Forum (SGCPF), which runs the Bookbug programme in Glasgow on behalf of the Scottish Book Trust.

She stole the money on different occasions during a 14-month period when she was in charge of the account.

McCormack, from Rutherglen, pleaded guilty to embezzling £62,250 while acting as the charity’s treasurer on a voluntary basis between April 2016 and June 2017.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard this week that another volunteer had noticed discrepancies in the organisation’s accounts and that McCormack confessed when confronted. Accounts showed that there had been 65 transactions made to McCormack’s personal account.

The court heard that McCormack had taken the money for gambling, and sentence was deferred for reports to be prepared.