70-year-old woman jailed after embezzling over £70k from local church

Janet Farquhar has been jailed for 18 months. Picture; Alexander Lawrie

A 70-year old woman, who embezzled over £70,000 from her local church, while acting as treasurer, has been jailed for 18 months.

Janet Farquhar of East Lorimer Place, Cockenzie, had pled guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court previously to embezzling £72,155.34 from Chalmers Memorial Church in Port Seton between January 16, 2008, and July 11, 2016.

Sentence was deferred until today (April 30) for reports.

In June, 2016, the Executive Treasurer of the Church of Scotland’s Finance Committee reported that a number of congregations who were behind in their contributions and Chalmers Memorial was highlighted as having significant dues. He sent a number of letters to Farquhar, but received no replies until August that year when Farquhar contacted the Church saying she would: “look into the issues of where payments had gone”.

The Church contacted an elder of Chalmers Memorial Church, who worked in the Bank of Scotland, asking if she could find out where the money had been going, if not to the Church.