Greenock scammer duped firm and drove 16 TIMES cocaine limit

Scammer Scott Coyle used a company card to buy building supplies after he was let go by a construction firm and fraudulently obtained £2,000 worth of merchandise for himself.

The 30-year-old then failed to complete a decking job for an unsuspecting customer after taking £1,000 in cash from the woman and then ignoring her messages and calls.

Coyle, who, according to his solicitor, has 'absolutely ruined the goodwill' shown to him by the community, was found behind the wheel of a car just weeks earlier significantly under the influence of cocaine.

Scott Coyle (Image: Facebook)

The swindler pleaded guilty to three charges across two separate cases at Greenock Sheriff Court.

A sentencing hearing was told that he had been employed by Glasgow-based MP Group Ltd at the beginning of last year before his contract was terminated at the end of January 2023.

READ MORE: 'Controlling' husband spared jail but 'refuses to accept' years of coercive behaviour

While he worked for the firm, he was given access to a company group account to order materials for work purposes - a privilege he flouted after he had left the role.

Between January 31 and February 14 last year, Coyle spent £142 using the company account at Howdens in Greenock and a further £111 at trade supplier's Paisley branch, whilst he bought items worth £1,100 at the Greenock Jewson shop and almost £750 from the same retailer in Largs.

Prosecutor Ashley Pollock told the court that his former employers were alerted to the transactions because one of the occasions fell on a non-working day at the weekend.

MP Group management contacted police after being made aware of the fraudulent activity and Coyle was arrested in September - while he was in court for separate matters.

The fiscal depute said Coyle gave a quote of £1,000 to a caravan owner at Wemyss Bay holiday park to carry out a decking project and collected money from the victim in early April last year, with a view to finishing the work by the end of that month.

Several weeks later, after numerous messages from the woman and attempts to call him, Coyle dropped off tools at the site and said he would be back the following morning but never returned.

READ MORE: Serious organised crime man jailed for involvement in Greenock drugs factory

The court heard the he 'continued to make up excuses as to why he was unable to do the job'.

Drug driver Coyle had been pulled over by police travelling on East Hamilton Street towards Port Glasgow on the afternoon of December 3, 2022 after officers spotted his silver Ford Focus 'swerving between lanes'.

A sample of saliva provided for a roadside DrugWipe test returned a positive result for cocaine and a blood sample taken that night showed a reading of 792mcg of benzoylecgonine - the main metabolite of cocaine - per litre of blood, well over the 50mcg/litre limit.

Defending, Edel McGinty said her client had 'certainly put himself well and truly at the forefront of a custodial sentence'.

She said: "He ended up in a situation where the walls were growing high around him and started to crash down.

"These offences have cost him his reputation, his relationship and possibly his liberty.

"Everything has just turned into a big mess."

READ MORE: Man charged after pedestrian injured in Greenock crash

The lawyer said Coyle was 'essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul' - having obtained items fraudulently using the company card to start up his own business, and taken the woman's money to support him in finding his own accommodation.

Ms McGinty added: "He has absolutely ruined the goodwill of the community.

"He has driven himself into the ground."

Sheriff James Varney told Coyle: "You participated in a fraudulent scheme, you knew perfectly well you ought not to have been doing it.

"The reality of the situation is that these companies pay people's wages, so if they don't have enough money to do that because of people like you committing fraud that is not acceptable."

Coyle, previously listed in court papers as living in Finnart Street, was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work within 18 months and will also be supervised by criminal justice social workers for the same length of time.

He has been disqualified from driving on an interim basis, with Sheriff Varney continuing consideration of a longer ban and possible restriction of liberty order.

He is due back in court on March 6 on the drug-driving matter and a 7pm-7am curfew has been imposed meantime.