You may have seen a story which has appeared in the media over the past 24 hours about a former Scottish Wildlife Trust employee who has been convicted of embezzlement.

In Spring 2016, the Scottish Wildlife Trust discovered financial irregularities, as part of routine checks. As soon as these irregularities came to light, immediate action was taken to protect the Trust from further losses and the police were notified. The employee concerned resigned a short time later.

It is upsetting that someone would abuse a position of trust, as was the case here, both in a charity and in a small business at which the employee subsequently worked. While no organisation can ever fully protect itself from financial crime, or indeed crime in general, we have since taken steps to strengthen our financial procedures and we regularly review these to ensure they are as robust as possible.

Thanks to the continued generosity of our members and supporters, as well as the hard work and dedication of our volunteers and staff, there has been minimal disruption to our work to protect Scotland’s wildlife.

Jonny Hughes, Chief Executive