Hungarian worker jailed for stealing £12,000 from Grantown hotel’s safe
A 41 year old hotel worker who stole thousands of pounds from his employers in Grantown has been sentenced to six months in prison at Inverness Sheriff Court.
Istvan Nagyhaju of Fairbairn Street, Dundee was working at the Craiglynne Hotel in Grantown in June 2023 when the money went missing from a locked safe in a secure office.
Alarm bells started ringing for the general manager when Nagyhaju failed to turn up for work on June 15, 2023 and CCTV showed that he had accessed the hotel's office and opened the safe.
Fiscal depute Adelle Gray told Sheriff Gary Aitken: "The general manager received a text from him saying: 'I have finished and left’. It is estimated he took around £12,000."
Defending, Duncan Henderson told the court: "His wife and child remain in Hungary and he expects to be re-engaged at a Dundee hotel on his release."
Sheriff Aitken asked the lawyer: "Is he due for deportation when then is resolved?"
Mr Henderson replied: "I expect he will face some difficulties but that is beyond my area of expertise. Clearly this is a breach of trust."
Sheriff Aitken said there was no alternative to a prison sentence but backdated the term to January 21, earlier this year when Nagyhaju was remanded in custody.
