Taylor Curl, 31, pleaded guilty to embezzling £68,000 from Aulds Bakery in Glasgow’s St Enoch Centre, where she was a branch manager, after being caught by a mystery shopper investigation
A bakery manager pilfered £68,000 from her employer to settle a drug debt. Taylor Curl, 31, was rumbled after a series of irregularities were spotted at Aulds in St Enoch shopping centre.
Curl amassed the money over a 22-month stretch by cancelling some or all of various customer transactions. Senior bosses then deployed mystery shoppers to the bakery where Curl was nabbed red-handed.
Curl, from Clydebank, has previously been photographed alongside former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. She was captured teaching the ex-SNP chief how to prepare waffles at a US-themed café in the city’s Riverside back in 2017. Curl joined Aulds Bakery in January 2018 as a branch manager. Two years on, retail manager Lesley Marr spotted “discrepancies” in reports concerning “voided transactions with substantial figures.”
Miss Marr alerted her husband Alan Marr, a managing director, who subsequently informed financial director Craig Anderson. Mrs Marr and Mr Anderson then launched a more detailed probe, reports Glasgow Live.
Prosecutor Ryan Watson informed Glasgow Sheriff Court: “As a result of all the information they were satisfied that Curl was the person responsible for the voided transactions. A total of £68,000 of transactions were voided.”
The court heard that during the tenure of the previous manager at the bakery, merely £1,000 worth of transactions had been cancelled. Senior management decided to send undercover shoppers into Aulds. Mr Anderson was chosen as one of the participants as he had never encountered Curl. He bought several items, however, it was subsequently found that the £1.75 he paid for shortbread had been cancelled.
Mr Watson said: “Another mystery shopper ordered three coffees, an empire biscuit and a sausage roll. Miss Marr carried out a search and there was no record of the sale which was voided off.”
Curl was approached by Mr Anderson and was asked to provide an explanation but she failed to admit to her conduct. After receiving legal advice, Curl was dismissed from her position.
The Marrs and Mr Anderson then reported Curl to the police. Curl pleaded guilty today to a £68,000 embezzlement charge between March 5, 2018, and January 23, 2020.
Mr Watson stated that there has been no repayment by Curl to the company.
Liam Runciman, defending, told the court: “She is a first offender and has no outstanding matters. She fully appreciates the seriousness of this and what may be the outcome for the disposal in this case.
“She had accrued a drug debt prior to this offending which is the background.”
Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month by Sheriff Joan Kerr who continued Curl’s bail meantime.