A FINANCE manager with a gift company stole more than £36,000 from his employers over a two-year period, a court heard.

Aaron Davidson, 23, used the money to try to win friends, spending beyond his means, Durham Crown Court was told.

Davidson, with no previous convictions, began taking the money after returning to work for a second spell with the Darlington company Simply Thankyou, also known as sty.com, which provides gift services for large UK companies.

Anne Richardson, prosecuting, said he used his position as finance manager to transfer funds from the company's account, using unauthorised bank clearing payments and credit refunds.

She said it caused significant problems for a relatively small company that only employed 20 people.

Paul Cleasby, for Davidson, said he was "a substantially honest, hard-working employee, who, over a two-year period, committed a serious breach of trust."

Mr Cleasby said as a result of the offending, Davidson had been ostracised by his family and had suffered depression.

But he said he had found employment and planned to do voluntary work, and had attended a volunteer training course.

He had also sought counselling for depression and hoped to enrol on a college course, said Mr Cleasby.

Davidson, of North Road, Darlington, admitted a single count of theft covering the entire period of offending, from November 1, 2001, to November 21 last year.

Jailing Davidson for 15 months, Judge Tim Hewitt told him: "You were in a position of some responsibility, with access to books of account, and basically with means to enable you to carry out these thefts, taking money from the company accounts, some more significant sums than others.

"It was a company in which you were very much trusted.

"The offences were committed against a background of your isolation and you were trying to buy friendship outside the community you formerly knew, and you got yourself into financial difficulty."