The Metro is one of several papers which leads with a report that former SNP MP Natalie McGarry has been convicted of embezzling almost £25,000 following a six-week trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court. The paper says she will be sentenced next month.
The Scottish Daily Mail reports that McGarry was convicted of two charges of embezzlement from two pro-independence groups in Scotland. She was found guilty of embezzling £19,974 while she was treasurer of the Women for Independence (WFI) campaign group between April 2013 and November 2015, and was also convicted of taking £4,661 between April 2014 and August 2015 while she was treasurer, secretary and convener of the Glasgow Regional Association of the SNP.
McGarry embezzled the cash despite receiving thousands of pounds from family, friends and colleagues, according to the Scottish Daily Express. The paper says she received up to £20,000 over three years from her dad Brian as well as thousands from her aunt, former Scottish Parliament presiding officer Tricia Marwick.
The Scottish Sun says McGarry spent the money on rent, takeaways, grocery shopping as well as a holiday to Spain.
The Courier adds that McGarry often complained about being “skint”, despite having a £67,000-a-year Westminster salary in 2015 and was eventually caught that same year after a financial probe into the independence group where she was treasurer.
Hundreds of trains services have been cancelled or curtailed this week due to driver shortages over a pay dispute ahead of “a possible summer of discontent” on the newly-nationalised Scottish rail network, according to The Herald. The paper estimates on Thursday there were more than 100 service cancellations spread across Scotland including the key Glasgow to Edinburgh service and the West Highland Line because of driver shortages.
The i newspaper says the House of Lords is planning to delay the foreign secretary’s plan to scrap the Northern Ireland Protocol, with peers able to obstruct it for a year. The paper says the UK believes it could lawfully end the deal unilaterally, but is prepared for delays to pass the necessary legislation.
Lord Frost, the man who negotiated the Brexit deal, writes in The Daily Telegraph that Prime Minister Boris Johnson must show the same leadership he displayed in the Ukraine war by ripping up the Northern Ireland Protocol. He says the Good Friday Agreement, which has underpinned peace in the nation since 1998, was now “on life support” due to the border checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
The Times Scotland’s lead story features a warning from former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who says the Tories could lose the next election over voters’ deep concerns about the cost of living. Mr Hunt, who is not ruling out a leadership bid, tells the paper that the loss of nearly 500 seats in the local elections was not just “mid-term blues” and Boris Johnson has a “big mountain to climb”.
The Scotsman reports that John Swinney says he approved the budget but “didn’t give the final nod” to the ferries fiasco contract, after Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross pushed for him to make a statement on why he forged ahead with the deal which has “cost taxpayers a quarter of a billion pounds”.
The National reports that an SNP council candidate who is originally from Poland has been hit with a barrage of xenophobic abuse for being involved in Scottish politics without holding a UK passport. Olaf Stando received hundreds of vile messages, including calls for him to be deported to Rwanda, after tweeting that he did not have UK citizenship or a British passport despite living in Scotland for 17 years.
Shaun Munro, a 28-year-old drink-driver who caused the death of a great-grandmother in a head-on crash in Moray, has been jailed, reports The Press and Journal.
The Daily Star of Scotland says UEFA have urged Rangers fans who don’t have a ticket to the Europa League final not to travel to Seville.
Former Rangers goalkeeper Andy Goram, 58, has been rushed to hospital with “severe stomach pains” amid his cancer battle, according to the Daily Record.
The manager of a Shell petrol station in Glasgow was found to have embezzled more than £13,000 to pay off gambling debts, says the Glasgow Times. The paper says it was discovered that Andrea Ward, 44, who worked at the petrol station on London Road, had taken the cash between March and November 2019.
The Edinburgh Evening News reports staff at Lloyds bank will protest outside the bank during its annual meeting in Edinburgh on Thursday, over a pay dispute. Unite the union has criticized the bank for making “obscene amounts of money” whilst it said workers are struggling financially. The paper says the bank has defended its pay offer made to staff, with a minimum pay increase of £1,000 for all employees.
The Evening Telegraph reports that police found hidden “vile” images of children and animals during the raid of a hospital worker’s home.
