Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 12:25 PM• Paul Jeursen • Last update: 12:25

Scottish Fiona Barclay has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing £104,000 from her former employer Manchester City. She used the money to buy gifts for her husband and family and to pay for her wedding.

Barclay worked as a business development manager in the hospitality department of the Citizens. Last March, the club’s accountants became suspicious when they came across a suspicious £25,000 transaction. The suspicion was mainly due to the fact that it was a large and exactly round number. The transaction led back to Barclay, who eventually admitted to making a mistake. By then she had already deposited £15,000 into her own bank account and she repaid this amount. However, the club investigated further and found that Barclay had been transferring money from the club to its own account since June 2019.

In total, Barclay stole more than £104,000 from the club. Although she has already repaid part of it, Manchester City still has to get back 89 thousand pounds (more than one hundred thousand euros) from her. She was finally fired last March. After a criminal investigation into Barclay was launched, she told police that the money had been used to pay for “various parts of her marriage” and to buy “gifts for her husband and family.” She pleaded guilty to the felony “fraud by abuse of position.”

The pregnant Barclay’s lawyer asked the judge not to send her to prison. He said Barclay had moved from Scotland for her job in Manchester and had become isolated. “It seems hundreds of miles from home, isolated and lonely, solace was sought in excessive shopping. The problem was that this was at the expense of her employer,” he argued.

The judge wanted nothing to do with this and sentenced Barclay to eighteen months in prison. He said that while relegation was not a word associated with Premier League champions City, Barclay had “relegated” itself. “I’m afraid that because of greed and deceit you have degraded yourself to someone who lacks good character,” it sounded harsh. Barclay eventually has to serve half of her 18-month prison sentence.