A former SNP MP faces being jailed after she was convicted of embezzling almost ￡25,000 from pro-independence groups.

       Natalie McGarry, who represented Glasgow East between 2015 and 2017, was told that she had committed “significant breaches of trust”, after a jury found her guilty of two charges.

       The disgraced 40-year-old spent donations for her own benefit despite receiving thousands of pounds from supportive friends and family, Glasgow Sheriff Court heard.

       They included a ￡600 loan from Humza Yousaf, the current SNP Health Secretary. McGarry also received hundreds of pounds a month from Tricia Marwick, her aunt and a former presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament.

       The jury took three hours to find her guilty of embezzling ￡19,974, while she was treasurer of Women for Independence (WFI) between April 26 2013 and Nov 30 2015.

       She was also found guilty of taking ￡4,661 between April 9 2014 and Aug 10 2015, when she was treasurer, secretary and convener of the SNP’s Glasgow Regional Association.

       Sheriff Tom Hughes told McGarry that she had been given a position of trust by the two organisations, which had helped her get elected to Westminster.

       He said: “What you have been convicted of are a series of incidents which took place over a long period of time. It was not a one-off incident. There were a number of transactions carried out by you to allow you to carry out this crime.

       “There’s a significant breach of trust in all of this. You were asked to deal with the finances of both Women for Independence and the Glasgow Regional Association of the SNP.”

       McGarry, of Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, had earlier pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2019 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. However, she eventually succeeded in withdrawing her guilty plea, meaning that a trial took place.

       The court heard that even after she was elected as an MP, meaning she was paid a salary of ￡67,000, she would complain to colleagues about being “skint”.

       McGarry helped establish WFI in 2012 with Jeane Freeman, the SNP’s former health secretary, and Carolyn Leckie, the former Scottish Socialist Party MSP.

       She became the treasurer of the organisation and its PayPal funds entered her personal bank account.

       The jury was shown a bank statement in which McGarry’s personal account had a balance of ￡10.74, later topped up by a PayPal transfer of ￡1,700.

       A ￡1,000 rent payment was then seen to come off the account the following day.

       WFI also foot the bill for part of McGarry’s five-year Amigo Loan of ￡5,000, as well as her Tesco and Asda trips and purchases on Just Eat.

       McGarry transferred ￡1,140 from her bank account on Sep 1 2014 to her partner David Meikle, a former Tory councillor, who had purchased flights and car hire two days before for ￡1,035.92.

       Alistair Mitchell, prosecuting, said to the jury in his closing speech: “The extravagance doesn’t matter. She took it dishonestly. It doesn’t matter if it was ￡20 or ￡20,000. Evidence was showing money was being used from WFI for purchases of that sort.”

       Allan MacLeod, defending, put it to several witnesses that McGarry was “spinning a lot of plates” at the time.

       Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month by Sheriff Hughes. McGarry was granted bail.