January 28, 2025
A dental practice manager who stole equipment worth £120,000 and impersonated his Coatbridge dentist boss has been jailed for a year.
Alan Thomson pretended to be Dr Keith Preston - owner of Coatbridge Family Dental Care along with his wife, Gillian - in a bid to transfer £50k from a savings account.
Thomson, of Falkirk, admitted stealing dental equipment, electrical items and computer hardware from the practice over a four-day period in July 2023, as well as carrying out a fraudulent scheme.
Airdrie Sheriff Court heard the 36-year-old had a drug addiction and committed the crimes to pay off debts.
Thomson's scheme involved billing the company after obtaining dental equipment worth £3600 from suppliers and attempting to have £50,000 transferred from Mr Preston's National Savings Investments account.
The court heard he started work as practice manager at the Coatbridge dental surgery in February 2023, but he was dismissed less than three months later for "under-performance".
Sarah Healing, prosecuting, said the alarm at the premises went off about 4.30am on July 7, 2023, and police attended to find a door open and items "strewn over the floor".
Enquiries revealed that a code allocated to Thomson had been used to deactivate and reset the alarm that morning and on another occasion a few days earlier.
Then, on August 3, a request was made from a person claiming to be Mr Preston to change the password and mobile phone number associated with his NSI account.
The caller - Thomson - passed through the security process and was able to change a nominated bank account and request a £50,000 transfer.
Ms Healing told the court: "Fortunately, suspicions had been raised earlier that resulted in Mr Preston being contacted and he confirmed he had not authorised any changes.
"Enquiries showed the £50,000 was to have been transferred to a Bank of Scotland account registered to Thomson.
"It also emerged that dental equipment worth £3,632.80 had been sent to an address in Glasgow associated with Thomson. Invoices for these had been sent to Coatbridge Family Dental Care.
"Thomson was interviewed and told police he had provided the key and alarm code for the practice to another individual, allowing that person to break in and steal the equipment."
Defence lawyer Eddie Kelly said Thomson had developed a serious drug addiction after the death of his sister and also accrued debts.
Mr Kelly told the court: "This affected his judgment and mindset. He was far too well acquainted with the person supplying him drugs which led to this ill-thought-out enterprise.
"His mental health was at an extremely low level and he struggled to deal with a number of issues. He used drugs as a coping mechanism.
"This was a gross breach of trust but I have numerous character references that show he is a highly-regarded individual.
"He has a strong and stable family background."
Sheriff Paul Haran accepted family tragedy had led Thomson into a "spiral" that resulted in the break-in.
The sheriff told him: "I have no doubt you will have the ability and support to turn things around and become an upstanding and useful member of society.
"But given the extremely serious nature of these charges, I can't, unfortunately, find an alternative to custody."
Thomson had previously escaped with a £470 fine at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in January last year after stealing clothing, handbags and accessories while manager of a TK Maxx store at the city's Hermiston Gait in 2022.
Dr Keith Preston, clinical director at Coatbridge Family Dental Care, said Thomson's crimes had a "significant and concerning impact".
He added: "We were shocked and deeply saddened by the appalling actions of an individual who was employed with us for a brief period."
Content retrieved from: https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/sacked-coatbridge-dential-worker-stole-30871965