A 13-month jail sentence has been imposed on a "callous" banker who stole £18,000 from a client he targeted due to the latter's dementia.

In order to pay off his obligations, Stephen Barr took advantage of the 81-year-old widower's illness and emptied his bank account.

Barr, 38, chose Douglas Crumley, who has now passed away, to steal from while he was employed at the Bank of Scotland as a link manager.

Dundee Sheriff Court was told that Barr had a “stellar” 13-year career in banking before fiddling thousands of pounds from his victim’s savings.

Sheriff Paul Brown told him: “This is a serious matter. It is so serious there is no alternative to a custodial sentence.”

Lloyds Banking Group, Bank of Scotland’s parent company, had referred the matter to police after uncovering the fraud.

Gary Fowlis, defending Barr, said his client had resigned from his job but accepted that he would otherwise have been sacked.

‘Stellar career in banking’

He said: “He was in difficult circumstances and could not resist the temptation put before him.

“That was against a backdrop of a stellar career in the banking industry. He tells me he thinks about this every day. It’s had a significant impact on his personal and professional life.”

The court was told Barr had worked as a personal banking adviser and was employed as link bank manager in Dundee’s Fairmuir branch at the time of the offence.

Crumley became a customer in 2015 and used a current account for his pension income and general living costs, with no third-party access to his accounts.

Between March and April 2018, Crumley, who was in the early stages of dementia, spoke with Barr about his financial affairs.

‘Increasingly confused’

Barr added notes to Crumley’s file stating the customer was “becoming increasingly confused” with his accounts.

Concerns were first raised in May 2018 when investigators noticed a number of “faster payments” being made by Barr from one of Crumley’s accounts.

Barr had transferred £10,550 into a building society account belonging to his brother, which he had control over, and made ATM withdrawals totalling £7,383.

Fiscal depute Joanne Ritchie said Barr was confronted by bank investigators and admitted “he deliberately targeted Mr Crumley due to his vulnerability”.

Upon discovering Barr’s actions, Crumley was refunded by the bank in full.

Barr, of Aberdeen, pled guilty to forming a fraudulent scheme at the Bank of Scotland branch on Murraygate between March and May 2018.

Helen Nisbet, Procurator Fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said: “This was a shocking and callous betrayal of trust of both a vulnerable man and of an employer.”

A spokesman for Lloyds Banking Group said: “Protecting customers from fraud is our priority. As a result of an internal investigation regarding a staff member in 2018, we referred this matter to the police.

“We fully supported the prosecution and welcome the court’s verdict.”