Three former staff members who exposed the rot inside Argyll and Bute Women’s Aid say the 20-month sentence handed to embezzler Jay Reid is only the beginning. They claim millions of pounds meant for domestic abuse survivors went missing while they begged for basic supplies for terrified kids.
The whistleblowers told the Daily Record they first raised the alarm ten years ago about two senior managers blowing charity cash on luxury holidays and jewellery while children in refuges went without clothes and shoes.
Jay Reid, 56, finally admitted stealing £39,331 between 2013 and 2017. She spent the money on cruises, designer handbags and family breaks while the Dunoon refuge scraped by on fumes.
But Debbie Lansdowne, Janine Calder and Marie Maclean insist Reid was only part of a much bigger scandal that also involved former colleague Pamela McDonald, who died before facing any charges.
They Watched Children Suffer While Managers Splashed Cash
The three women painted a heartbreaking picture of life inside the charity during those years.
“We would be in the refuge trying to find £20 for a pair of school shoes for a child who arrived with nothing,” Debbie Lansdowne said. “Meanwhile these two were booking five-star holidays and buying Tiffany jewellery with the charity credit card.”
Janine Calder added: “We had mothers fleeing violence with babies in their arms and no nappies, no formula, nothing. We were using our own money to buy essentials because the bank account was empty.”
The whistleblowers say they discovered the fraud after noticing their own pension contributions were not being paid.
“That was the red flag,” Marie Maclean explained. “We started digging and found thousands disappearing every month.”
£87,000 “Written Off” After Damning 2016 Audit
The women reported their concerns to the board in 2015. An independent audit the following year uncovered £87,000 in overclaimed government funding that was quietly written off.
“Nobody was disciplined. Nobody was reported to police. They just swept it under the carpet,” Debbie said.
They claim the true figure lost over the years runs into millions when improper claims, missing pensions and personal spending are all added together.
The three women say they have spent a decade fighting for their stolen pensions while watching the charity continue to receive public money.
New Management Admits “Serious Breach of Trust”
Argyll and Bute Women’s Aid released a statement after Reid’s jailing:
“The actions of past employees represented a serious breach of trust that caused significant harm to the organisation and the women and children we support.
“Current staff and management are fully committed to transparency and proper governance.”
The charity says it has new leadership in place and has cooperated fully with all investigations.
Scottish Women’s Aid stressed that each local group operates independently but said it was “deeply concerned” by the revelations.
Real Victims Are the Women and Children Who Needed Help
While managers allegedly lived the high life, the real cost was measured in human suffering.
One former refuge worker remembered a mother who arrived with her two young children after a brutal attack.
“She had literally the clothes on her back. We had no money for emergency packs. I went home and brought in my own children’s old clothes,” she said.
Another child went to school in shoes held together with tape because the charity “couldn’t afford” replacements.
These are the real victims of this scandal, not just the charity’s bank balance.
The whistleblowers say they are speaking out now because they want proper justice.
“We want a full independent investigation into every penny that went missing over those years,” Janine Calder said. “The women and children of Argyll and Bute deserved better. They still do.”
Ten years after they first blew the whistle, these three brave women are still waiting for answers.
They lost their jobs, their pensions and their faith in a system that was supposed to protect the most vulnerable.
But they refuse to stay silent while others might still be failed.
