A Halifax bank manager was jailed yesterday after he admitted swindling more than £140,000 from the company.

Philip Kerr, 40, took the money while he was in charge of branches at Washington and Middlesbrough.

Prosecutor Peter Johnson told Teesside Crown Court that Kerr switched amounts over four years from a Halifax central business float to his own accounts and those of his family.

Kerr, who was sacked from his £40,000-a-year post as regional manager in Middlesbrough, fiddled the Halifax because he could not afford the cost of moving house regularly, the court heard.

Cash went on jewellery and books, but there were no signs of high living, said Mr Johnson.

Philip Crayton, defending, said that Kerr lost money on house moves after working at Hull, Harrogate and York, then the North-East.

Mr Crayton said: "He worked his way up from the bottom over 20 years and found himself in a negative equity situation on his homes. He spent £5,000 living in hotels between moves."

Kerr, of Sherbrow View, Darlington, admitted three specimen charges of false accounting and deception involving £141,900.

He was jailed for nine months after the court heard that the Halifax had seized £54,000 from his pension fund and that his wife would be left to look after their disabled young son alone.