Jeane Freeman gives evidence in Natalie McGarry trial

Ms McGarry acted as treasurer of Women for Independence (WFI) between April 26, 2013 and November 30, 2015.

Ms Freeman was the first witness called in the trial, which is expected to last between four and six weeks. She explained that in the run-up to the 2014 referendum the organisation had no formal structures, no constitution and no officers.

She explained to the court that she had no reason to check WFI’s bank account. 

“The point about Women for Independence was that we were founded on trust. We trusted each other. That goes widely right across the organisation,” she told the court.

“We would do the job we had volunteered to do, so if you were going to turn up and speak at a meeting you would do it to the best of your ability

“If you were going to go on radio or television, you’d do your homework and do it to the best of your ability.

“If you were running the finances, you would do it to the best of your ability.

“And if you were at any point struggling with any of it you would say so, and the organisation, the women involved in the organisation, would work really hard to be non-judgemental, to support each other, because we wanted to demonstrate by how we ran ourselves and behaved, how we thought society could be improved for women.” 

It is alleged Ms McGarry transferred cash made from fundraising events into her own personal accounts and failed to send the donations intended for Perth and Kinross food bank and the charity Positive Prisons Positive Futures.

She then allegedly used cheques - held in the name of WFI - to deposit money into her accounts.

Ms Freeman said that during 2015, as WFI formalised, elected a National Council and adopted a constitution, Ms McGarry was asked repeatedly for details of the group’s income and expenditure. 

After her selection to fight the Glasgow East constituency for the SNP in the general election of that year, subsequently winning the seat, she was asked to hand over documents to Elizabeth Young, a member of WFI who was an accountant, and who had volunteered to help with the finances. 

However, Ms McGarry failed to provide all the information requested. Instead, Ms Freeman said, it came in “dribs and drabs”.

“We got some information but we never got all the information that we needed in order to what had been committed to, to the National Council. 

“And so in my mind, it moved from being annoying and frustrating to being worrying, and to feeling personal in the sense of my own integrity. We had a commitment there that I could not understand why we could not honour it.”

Despite repeated deadlines, Ms Freeman said, Ms McGarry was unable to hand over all the papers and documents. 

One night in August 2015, she said she could see Ms McGarry outside her window. 

“There was a point where Ms McGarry said she would bring information to me at home, which was fine. And, it was a bit of a strange situation, in that where we sit in our living room we could see the street.

"I saw her walk past, went to open the door, the information was sitting on a bag on the doorstep and Ms McGarry was going up the steps.

"That felt a bit odd to me. We had been working together on this for some time. But there was some information in that bag that we’d asked for, but again, not all the information.” 

Asked what she found strange about the situation, Ms Freeman said: “We’d all been working together since the end of 2012 at least. This was 2015.

"We’d all worked very closely together as women for independence and the independence campaign. We’d been in each other’s houses, we’d eaten each other’s food.

"We’d had committee meetings in my home. I found it strange that any of that group women would dump something on my doorstep and run away. That’s what it felt like to me.“

Ms Freeman said she was losing patience with Ms McGarry.

In emails in September 2015, Ms Freeman and fellow WFI founding member Carolyn Leckie demanded Ms McGarry give them full details of the spending, access to the different PayPal accounts and other information. They warned her that there would be consequences if she failed to meet the deadlines.

“I had discussed with Carolyn, the growing unease that there was something amiss here. That something amiss looked like it might be a reasonable sum of money and I could not understand why if that was not the case we were not getting all the information we asked for. 

“We had some discussion about what are we going to do if my growing concern provided to be well-founded. We hadn’t reached a view about that. But you can’t unknow what you know. And you can’t find out if you were to find out, that there was a gap and what happened and just ignore it. 

“I was very mindful, and I know Carolyn was too, that the money that had come to Women for Independence had come from women and men, many of who could not afford very much at all, and they’d given it in trust. There was a significant responsibility, I felt, to get to the bottom of this because otherwise it would be dishonest.” 

It transpired that the money raised through crowdfunders had gone into Ms McGarry’s personal bank account. 

“We were not aware until we saw Ms McGarry’s bank statements that the Paypal was linked to her personal bank account. That was a significant surprise. It was a significant sum of money,” Ms Freeman said. 

Ms Freeman said Ms McGarry had promised to provide personal bank statements which would show how the money had been spent. 

Ms McGarry also paid back around £6400 from her own account to WFI.

“We still did not have passcodes for access to some of the information that was protected in that way. And that was the position we reached around about the end of October 2015," Ms Freeman said.

She added: “My view was that there was at least the potential here of criminal behaviour. 

“At that point, we could go no further with this, we couldn’t get any more information. The size of it, the nature of it, Carolyn, Elizabeth and I took the view that the right and proper thing to do now was to hand over everything we had to Police Scotland.”

Ms McGarry is also accused of embezzling £4,661.02 from the Glasgow Regional Association of the SNP between April 9 2014 and August 10 2015.

It is alleged that in the course of her roles as treasurer, secretary and convener of the association, she used cheques drawn on bank accounts held in its name to pay expenses it had not incurred and retained reimbursements to which she was not entitled.

The indictment also alleges McGarry used cheques drawn on bank accounts held in the association’s name to deposit money in her own personal bank accounts, and transferred funds donated to the association through its website into her own accounts.

Proceedings were delayed this morning after a juror tested positive for Covid. An attempt by Ms McGarry’s defence to have the trial delayed for five days to give the juror time to recuperate was rejected by Sheriff Tom Hughes who said the trial - expected to last between four and six weeks - would proceed with 14 jurors. 

Ahead of Ms Freeman's evidence, the Sheriff also warned social media users not to prejudice the trial, warning that it could have a “catastrophic” impact on the court process. He said it could end up in court proceedings and a custodial sentence. 

He said: "It's important for everyone to be aware what's posted on Twitter or in any electronic form.

"It could have a catastrophic effect on the trial process and could be prejudicial and as a result pf that anyone found to be doing that in the knowledge that it could prejudice could face proceedings."

The trial continues.