THE chair of NHS Fife gave her niece, who is accused of embezzling more than £25,000 from pro-Independence groups, up to £500 per month as a "helping hand", a court has heard.

Tricia Marwick, the former Scottish Parliament presiding officer, appeared as a witness at Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday (Tuesday).

Her niece, Natalie McGarry, who is originally from Inverkeithing, is accused of embezzling £21,000 while treasurer for Women for Independence (WFI) between April 26, 2013, and November 30, 2015.

The ex-Glasgow East SNP MP is also accused of taking £4,661 between April 9, 2014, and August 10, 2015, when she was treasurer, secretary and convener of the Glasgow Regional Association (GRA) of the SNP.

Ms McGarry, now of Clarkston, denies both charges.

Mrs Marwick, 68, who was presiding officer from 2011 to 2016 and is now chair of NHS Fife, said her niece would visit her at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh "once a month to every six weeks".

There, she would give Ms McGarry hundreds of pounds and always in cash, she told the court.

Asked how much she had gifted to her between April 2013 and November 2015, Mrs Marwick said she could not quantify the exact number "with any great certainty", but it was "somewhere between three and five thousand".

She then clarified to prosecutor Alastair Mitchell that the sum could vary on occasion but never ran into thousands on a single visit.

Mrs Marwick told the court she wanted to make it easier for her niece to get into politics after experiencing how hard it could be herself.

She said: "I regularly gave Natalie between £300 and £500 when she came to see me.

"I wanted (the money) to be spent on herself and her household bills. When I was a young woman, I was just starting out and had no income.

"I knew how difficult it was to take money out of the household income for political work. I wanted to give her a helping hand."

Mrs Marwick was first elected as an SNP MSP in 1999 before retiring in 2016.

She said the money was "always" given to Ms McGarry in cash, after the court heard the former MP received thousands each month from family to help with household bills.

Mrs Marwick continued: "I've known Natalie since she was a very young child. Her family had a trauma when she was around 18 when her brother was killed in a house fire.

"After Natalie left Inverkeithing, I didn't see much of her. I've always found her committed, energetic and bubbly."

Earlier, Ms McGarry wept in court as she said her life had been "ripped apart" by the accusations.

She said: "I wouldn't have come here with all of the trauma it has caused if I didn't believe I had done nothing wrong.

"My life has been ripped apart. I haven't done anything wrong. This has been hellish."

Ms McGarry told the court the only "mistake" she made was forgetting to pay a media training bill.

Mr Mitchell showed the court evidence of a £2,000 cheque from the GRA addressed to Ms McGarry on April 28, 2015.

It was intended that she would use this cash to pay back Enterprise Screen who gave SNP candidates media training prior to the 2015 General Election.