A BANK worker is being investigated by police after a Pounds 750,000 fraud was discovered at her branch.
Susan Robertson, 49, disappeared with her family days after the fraud was uncovered at the Abbey branch where she had worked for ten years.
After an internal audit was carried out by bank officials, she was suspended three months ago from her Pounds 17,000a-year job as a customer manager.
It is believed the fraud took place over several years and it has taken officials months to piece together the financial irregularity.
After the audit, Abbey called in the fraud squad from Strathclyde Police.
But officers could find no trace of Mrs Robertson or her husband Alistair, 51, and their three children at their Pounds 700,000 home in Milngavie, near Glasgow.
Police sources believe the family may have fled to Thailand and are trying to track them down.
But stunned friends and neighbours, who said the Robertsons told no one of their 'midnight flit', are convinced the family will not return.
Mrs Robertson's parents say they knew nothing of the disappearance for several weeks until staff at Abbey told them.
Mr Robertson is also being investigated by Strathclyde Police in connection with unlinked allegations of extortion.
Mrs Robertson had worked at the Abbey branch in Milngavie High Street for more than a decade and had become a wellknown face in the area.
But on April 13 this year, she ceased to work at the branch and was sent home. The following Monday, neighbours said the family's three cars disappeared from outside their home in Drumlin Drive.
Initially, neighbours thought they had gone on holiday but, after a month, they realised something was wrong.
One neighbour, who refused to be named, said: 'The whole family seemed to disappear in a big hurry but we simply thought they were maybe late for a flight. But after a few weeks the mail was piling up against their door.
'Then the police turned up saying Mr Robertson's brother Alex had been to change the locks in the house because it would lie empty for some time. The police also asked us if we had seen them.
'When the rumours started that they had fled to another country, we assumed it was Alistair that was in trouble.
'Police had been round to question him last year. His personalised Jaguar had been scratched and there had been a row.' Another Milngavie local added: 'You would always see Alistair and his son Scott wandering between bookies and the family were very flash with their money.
'Every member of the family had a nice car, from soft-top Mercedes to Jags.'
A spokesman for Abbey said yesterday: ' We would like to stress that no Abbey customers were financially disadvantaged because of the fraud.'
