Business banking news review: week ending 2 April 2015
A thieving former bank teller caught stealing nearly £2,000 from branch customers somehow avoided bank time, instead being hit with 300 hours of unpaid work.
33 year old Anthony McKenna, who admitted he had lined his pockets with £1,800 worth of cash from other people’s accounts during the 2013 Christmas period as he worked as a teller at the Bank of Scotland, miraculously avoided a jail sentence. Now, the Inverbeag, Glencoe native has his work cut out for him – 300 hours’ worth in fact, which just happens to be the maximum sentence – in order to pay for his sins.
McKenna started his embezzling spree from personal and business bank account holders at his branch on 2 December when he began altering receipts of customers coming in to withdraw cash from their current accounts and savings accounts. The spree went on until around December 30 while the man took hundreds in cash at a time from several victims.
Apparently the only way McKenna ended up avoiding prison is that shedloads of character witnesses began to pour in on his behalf, explaining how the poor bloke was under incredible amounts of stress at home due to difficult family circumstances and financial hardship. To his credit, McKenna has offered to repay the funds he embezzled through his pension policy, so it seems that he might not be such a bastard after all.
The authorities seemed to think so too, perhaps taking pity on the man. The local Sheriff noted how unhappily ironic it is that a bank worker not having enough cash to get by, adding that with the attitudes changing towards banks the sentence of unpaid work seems more appropriate than throwing McKenna in jail for heaven knows how long. The fact that he admitted what he did and is willing to take his lumps is in his favour as well.
I’m not going to say that the man didn’t do anything wrong, as he obviously victimised innocent bank customers. Still, people make mistakes all the time – and with McKenna seeming to be legitimately contrite I suppose I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides, 300 hours of unpaid work is quite a bit; it’s not like he’s getting away with murder or anything.