Composite image of Emma Hunt.
Emma Hunt, who initially denied embezzling £900,000 from her employer, received a three-year sentence yesterday (Picture: Media Scotland/Scotland Police)

A court has jailed an office manager for stealing almost £1 million from her employers to find a lavish lifestyle. 

Emma Hunt, 37, from Coldstream in the Scottish Borders, initially denied embezzling £900,000 from McLean Properties but was found guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court earlier this year. 

Sheriff John Mundy sentenced her to three years in prison yesterday, saying a ‘custodial sentence [was] the only option’ given the seriousness of her crime, the MailOnline reported.

Hunt is thought to have spent some £40,000 of her illicit gains on a Halloween party at East Lothian’s Fenton Tower castle, in addition to a £3,000 birthday do at Musselburgh race horse. 

She also splashed thousands more on hospitality packages at the Scottish Open and a Six Nations rugby match between England and Scotland, held at Murrayfield. 

Hunt was able to syphon the funds from her employer’s business by arranging for McLean Properties tenants to pay their rent directly into her own accounts over a period of at least three years. 

At trial, the court heard how between May 2016 and January 2019, Hunt spent £23,000 of this money on hotel breaks in Edinburgh and £7,944 on a Caribbean holiday for her and her mother. 

Hunt, 37, from Coldstream, Berwickshire, took deposits from tenants that were not needed and also transferred rent payments to her own bank accounts (Picture: Police Scotland)
Hunt, 37, from Coldstream, Berwickshire, took deposits from tenants that were not needed and also transferred rent payments to her own bank accounts (Picture: Police Scotland)
A crooked office manager stole over ?900,000 from her bosses to fund an extravagant luxury lifestyle ??? including a ??40,000 Halloween party in a castle. Emma Hunt conned a large Edinburgh property firm out of a fortune by pilfering rent payments made by tenants for three years. Rents being paid into McLean ??Properties were being diverted straight into bank accounts controlled by Hunt, allowing her to live like a ??millionaire despite having a salary of ??1800 per month.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court found Hunt guilty of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering while at McLean Properties (Picture: Media Scotland)

She purchased two cars, an Audi S1 Quattro worth £19,500 and a BMW M2 worth £35,000, in addition to almost £7,000 worth of Louis Vuitton fashion items. 

Hunt also contributed approximately £100,000 to her brother’s farming business, enabling the purchase of a bulldozer and other goods, services, holidays and cars.

Beautiful palm trees against the sky during a tropical sunset.
One way Hunt spent her illicit proceeds was on a £7,944 Caribbean holiday for her and her mother (Picture: Getty Images)

Her scheme only came to light after one of McLean Properties’ tenants queried the destination of their payments, prompting the firm to conduct an internal investigation. 

She will now face a confiscation order under the proceeds of crime legislation.

After Hunt’s sentencing, Detective Sergeant Drummond Fyall of Police Scotland said she had ‘clearly believed that her criminality would go undetected.’

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how Hunt had told friends and colleagues the money was the result of success with side business in cleaning. 

Her defence stated she had wanted to ‘buy friendships’ with the stolen cash, adding that she had admitted her conduct since initially denying the allegations against her.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.