A GALA Bingo cashier scammed vouchers allowing her to steal more than £1,500 from her work to pay off her debts.

Susan Miller pled guilty to pilfering £1,501 from the bingo hall in Townhead, Irvine, between May 9 and October 6 last year.

The 42-year-old appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week and admitted to singlehandedly r unning a vouchers scam whilst she worked as a cashier.

The court heard that Miller, of Ranken Place in Irvine, was in charge of collecting money from bingo players and was pocketing their cash and substituting it with fake vouchers – stealing £1,505 in just five months.

Fiscal Depute Stewart McMIllan told the court that on October 6 last year other staff members became suspicious after Miller handed in a suspiciously large wad of vouchers.

“On October 6 last year the accused was working as a runner which involved her collecting money from customers and placing it in a money bag.

“The evening progressed then at about 7.30pm she handed over her money bag which was processed by two other employees. They noticed there was a fairly large number of vouchers which had been used that night.

“Each of these voucher numbers was false and did not match up to match up to any members at the club.

“Suspicions were raised that evening and management became involved in the matter.

“The accused was challenged as to what had taken place and in particular the high number of vouchers and she refused to answer the question.

“She was suspended at that time and investigations were carried out.”

The court heard police were called and Miller eventually confessed to stealing the money to pay off her debts.

Mr McMillan said: “She was asked about it by police and she said: “It’s all true, I can’t deny it.”

“She had intended on keeping the money for herself.

“She was asked why she carried out this fraud and she said she was in a lot of debt.”

Sheriff Shirley Foran deferred sentence for reports but said all options were open to her due to the fact that Miller had abused her position of trust in her employment.

She added: “I know she says she wants to make efforts to repay but there is the issue of a position of trust here. I will defer sentence for social work reports.”