A FORMER warehouse supervisor has been jailed after a court heard he paid for a holiday to Florida with his girlfriend and her two children using cash stolen from his firm.

James Jack, 39, of Griffin Lane, Aylesbury, cheated Stiefel Laboratories UK Ltd, of Wooburn Green, out of more than £8,000 and planned to taken twice this amount.

Jack faced sentence by Recorder Mr Peter Williamson, at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday, after pleading guilty at Wycombe Magistrates' Court on November 23 to five counts of stealing cheques, five of making false instruments, and two of obtaining services by deception.

Kate Mallison, prosecuting, said Jack had worked for Stiefel Laboratories since 1990.

She said he committed the spate of offences between April and July 1999 when he stole and altered cheques sent by customers to Stiefel and had them diverted into different accounts by changing the names of the payees. The cheques, varying from £200 to £6,794, totalled £16,606 but Miss Mallison said Jack succeeded in stealing over half that amount. Financial discrepancies then alerted the company and exposed his dishonesty.

Ruth Crane, mitigating, said Jack was besotted with his girlfriend and spent some of the money on a holiday for them, and clearing debts.

She said Jack claimed his girlfriend had threatened to throw him out as he could not pay her bills. He felt emotionally blackmailed and had built up £20,000 of debts at the time.

Jack, who had no previous convictions, was jailed for 12 months for theft and making false instrument charges and three months for the deception offences. The sentences will run concurrently.

A spokesman for Stiefel said they found irregularities and reported them but did not want to comment further.