A finance director has spoken of her relief at being cleared of £650,000 embezzlement charges after three trials and years of delays.
A finance director has spoken of her relief at being cleared of £650,000 embezzlement charges after three trials and years of delays.
Katrena Allan was accused of stealing the money from East Lothian company Bindery Machinery Services, where she controlled the company finances.
Her former boss Jim Brown claimed Ms Allan had fraudulently written dozens of cheques for thousands of pounds to herself and her company Glowworm Books, which published the popular Maisie books.
A jury at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday returned a unanimous not-guilty verdict on all charges after a three-week trial.
Speaking outside court, Ms Allan, 51, who burst into tears on hearing the verdict, said: "It's a great relief and the truth is out now. I can get on with my life now."
Ms Allan was hired as finance director at the firm in Macmerry Industrial Estate in 1999 but was arrested in 2005 after more than £500,000 was discovered missing from the accounts.
She stood trial in November 2007, but proceedings were abandoned because the defence team was unable to get hold of vital cheques, invoices and receipts.
A new trial began in March, but was again deserted after a few days when more documents emerged.
Ms Allan, of Beech Cottage, Ecclesmachan, Broxburn, West Lothian, stood trial for the third time this month, denying she had fraudulently taken the money.
It was alleged that Ms Allan wrote unauthorised cheques and made electronic payments worth £656,325 between May 1999 and January 2005, and tried to take a further £35,108 in January 2005.
The finance director claimed any cheques or electronic bank transfers were repayments for money she had loaned to Bindery.
She said Mr Brown regularly asked her to pay thousands of pounds for his expenses - including diamond rings and holidays - to avoid tax.
She had paid for machinery, suppliers, travel and personal expenses using her own and Glowworm's credit cards.
In return, she used Bindery money to pay Glowworm salaries when she was short, and paid it back when she could.
Ms Allan admitted falling behind with the salary repayments, but said it was a "commercial matter" and she never intended to cheat her employer.
Her lawyers claimed she had been forced to defend herself "with hands tied behind her back" because many of the documents she needed were lost or destroyed during the liquidation of Glowworm.
Glowworm Books, of Broxburn, went into liquidation after Bindery began proceedings against it in April 2006.
The trial heard the defence repeatedly asked for documents kept in a "Katrena Allan" cupboard at Bindery, but the company had ignored requests. One large box of documents was only handed over on October 10.
Maisie the Morningside Cat was created by art teacher Aileen Paterson, who began writing the series of 20 books after her 11-year-old son Max died from leukaemia in 1980.
The kilted kitten became one of Scotland's most popular fictional characters and her adventures were adapted for television in 2000.
Ms Paterson has since claimed she lost £40,000 when Glowworm hit financial problems.
The Crown Office was unable to provide information on how much the trial had cost, as staff expenditure is not broken down on a case-by-case basis, but the total is believed to have been tens of thousands of pounds.
