A SCOTS Thomas Cook employee embezzled £140,000 after discovering a computer loophole that allowed her to take as much cash as she wanted from the till at her shop without the firm being aware.

Alicia Morgan stole dollars, euros and UK currency from the branch at Intu Braehead, near Glasgow, over six months and treated herself to trips to Florida, New York, Las Vegas, Spain, Euro Disney and Lapland.

She did so by processing 140 currency transactions where nothing was received in return.

Morgan, 33, of Greenock, over-rode the computer so that the till balanced after each transaction, leaving the holiday firm's auditors unaware of the missing cash.

It was only when colleagues found $400 was missing she was rumbled.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard that when questioned by a work colleague, Moran claimed she had given them to a customer by mistake.

But the court heard her cash till later showed 1,200 euros had gone and on August 10 2015. Then a colleague found £1,000 in cash hidden in a safe under a pile of envelopes. There was no paper trail.

Fiscal depute Alan Parfery said another staff member told bosses to inform them Morgan had claimed the amount could be 'manually corrected' on the computer to prevent managers becoming aware of any money disappearing.

It resulted in a nationwide review of security at Thomas Cook stores which found the loophole. Moran appeared in court to admit embezzlement yesterday. She had originally been charged with taking more than £241,000.

Sheriff David Pender deferred sentence for social work reports.

A Thomas Cook spokeswoman said: "This was a significant breach of trust from one of our colleagues.

"We will not hesitate to bring charges against employees where there is evidence of dishonesty."