A LOCHGELLY man has been jailed for stealing more than £13,000.

Allan McCulloch, 58, previously admitted that between September 2, 2014, and May 13 last year, at his home in North Street, Lochgelly, and elsewhere, he stole £13,452.74.

Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday, that the money involved was for payments which should have been made to a nursing home in Dunfermline where McCulloch’s mother-in-law lives.

McCulloch's wife had financial guardianship of her 92-year-old mother's money as she has dementia.

When the Office of the Public Guardian asked for information on the elderly women's accounts they were not provided with any details despite reminder letters.

As time went on McCulloch contacted Fife Council on behalf of his wife saying she did not want to be guardian anymore and that they were struggling to pay the care costs.

Later the Office of the Public Guardian carried out more checks on the elderly women's account and records showed there had been cash withdrawals.

She was also in arrears of £13,000 to Fife Council.

When McCulloch was interviewed he said he was guilty and accepted he was in charge of the finances.

The Court also heard that McCulloch had a previous conviction for dishonesty from 1990.

Defence solicitor, Elaine Buist, said her client had never served a custodial sentence before.

She added that McCulloch and his wife were foster parents, currently looking after two children and if he was jailed they would more than likely be removed because of his wife's work commitments.

She also explained that the money had been repaid to Fife Council and that McCulloch had taken out a loan to do that.

As McCulloch is a boxing coach, the Court was also given letters from Boxing Scotland.

Sheriff Charles Macnair replied: "He still stole almost £13,000 from a vulnerable woman and it appears to me that he does not think he has done anything wrong.

"For a lengthy amount of time he was taking money from an account that he does not have any responsibility over.

"This money was his mother-in-law's and she had debts for her care costs that were supposed to be paid by his wife and instead he just took it.

"He had no right to that money.

"The report from the social work department make it sound like it was just accounting mistake."

Ms Buist said: "I would ask you to take account the impact that a custodial sentence would have on his wife and foster children too."

Sheriff Macnair told McCulloch: "The circumstances of this offence appeared on last occasion to be complex and that arose from what you said to the social work department when they were preparing reports.

"In fact, the position is very much straight forward.

"There was a bank account that held money for your mother-in-law, aged 92, who suffers from dementia.

"The person appointed to look after it was your wife and probably in the guise of assisting her you stole £13,452.74 from the account.

"That meant that Fife Council were not paid the money owed to them, so the theft was not from Fife Council, it was from your mother-in-law, whose money was being looked after by your wife.

"The sum involved is very significant and substantial and the victim was very vulnerable.

"You have repaid the money, and I take in to account the impact on other people but in my view this offence is far too serious to deal with by way of a non-custodial sentence, even if you were a first-time offender.

"You have a previous conviction for dishonesty and it must have been substantial to get a fine of £5,000."

The Sheriff jailed McCulloch for 230 days.