A CROOKED accountant is in jail for stealing more than £30,000 from his firm to ease his crippling debts.

Andrew Stephenson siphoned money from clients' accounts and into one he had set up purely for the fraud.

His barrister said: "The prospect of future employment in the area of his expertise is now a non-starter."

Stephenson, from Stockton, worked as an accounts manager for a law firm in Stokesley, North Yorkshire.

The 46-year-old was heavily in debt and the subject of an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) at the time.

Over three years, he took money from the accounts of clients with Thorp Parker until a black hole was found in 2013.

Stephenson confessed immediately and told police how he did it, and how they could discover how much he had stolen.

Duncan McReddie, mitigating, said: "Mr Stephenson made a clean breast of his culpability from the outset.

"He is a responsible family man. Family debts started to spiral and he is acutely aware he was losing control."

Mr McReddie pleaded for leniency because prison would impact on his family - particularly his gravely-ill father.

He told the judge, Recorder Andrew Sutcliffe, QC, that he may never see his father alive again if he was jailed.

Stephenson, of Howden Walk, Stockton, admitted a charge of fraud and was locked up for one year and four months.

The judge told him: "This was a serious breach of trust, it was a sophisticated offence and it was over a lengthy period of time."

Mr McReddie had earlier said: "His close family will suffer. They will be deprived of his company and any contribution he could bring by obtaining future employment.

"If he is sent to prison, there is a real and significant risk that he will not see his father again."