A FORMER Cardenden woman who embezzled more than £90,000 from her former employers, was given 300 hours of unpaid work at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Thursday.

Debbie Stevenson, who now lives in Tyne and Wear, a first time offender the Court heard, had spent part of the money stolen on IVF treatment.

Stevenson admitted stealing £92,000 from The Pitreavie Group, a Glenrothes company, while working there as a book-keeper, between August 2014 and January 2017.

Sheriff Gilchrist, presiding, heard that Stevenson spent spent a substantial part of the money stolen on IVF treatment in 2015.

She gave birth to twins later that year, but the deception was to continue for some time after that.

An agent for Stevenson told the Court that the deception made her £2,000 better off per month and she paid a substantial sum per month to her mother to operate as a nanny to her children.

She was so ashamed of her actions, said the agent, that she had left Scotland and the Sheriff had wanted to check out the possible restrictions of liberty arrangements that could be applied at her new home in Hebburn, in Tyne and Wear, if he chose that as a sentence.

Sheriff Gilchrist imposed 300 hours of unpaid work on Stevenson and a restriction of liberty order for 12 months.