A debt-ridden bank advisor and lay preacher who stole from his employer, a church charity and his mother-in-law has been jailed.

Father-of-four Sean Johnson stole £150,000 to pay off his family's mounting debts and cover daily expenses.

Yesterday he was jailed for 18 months by a judge at Bradford Crown Court - despite a plea for mercy from the mother-in-law from whom he stole more than £65,000.

Widow Alice Illingworth handed over control of her investments to 37-year-old Johnson, but he used her money in a desperate effort to keep his family finances afloat.

When he was finally arrested, Johnson told police he was "trapped in a financial corner'' and had resorted to panic measures, using stolen money to fund, among other things, a bigger house, a car and a caravan.

Bradford Crown Court heard how Johnson, who had worked for NatWest for 17 years, used his position as a graduate advisor at the Bradford's university branch to "crossfire'' cheques from various accounts to try and cover up his offences.

Johnson used £49,000 stolen from NatWest to buy a bigger home for his growing family and he used his position as treasurer of the church-associated Lighthouse Outreach charitable organisation - and his access to its bank accounts - in an attempt to conceal his actions.

Johnson, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to seven charges of theft and asked for 37 others to be taken into consideration.

The total sum he stole from various sources amounted to more than £150,000, including £67,540 related to his mother-in-law's investments, according to prosecutor Jane Brady.

The thefts came to light during a bank investigation in April 2001. Johnson, of Hainsworth Moor Crescent, Queensbury, confessed to stealing from his employers, Lighthouse Outreach and his mother-in-law. He was finally questioned by police in November 2002 and repeated his confession to the thefts.

Miss Brady told the court that Johnson's mother-in-law had hoped he would help when she had problems with her own bankers in 1997. He arranged for various accounts to be opened with the Natwest.

"Johnson approached his mother-in-law and suggested it would be prudent for him to look after her bank affairs and for all correspondence to be sent to him directly,'' said Miss Brady.

She said Johnson's breakdown of her financial position was "inaccurate and misleading''.

"He said personal debt had been building up since 1992 and he had borrowed more than he could afford,'' said Miss Brady.

Although his family was barely managing, they planned to move into a bigger house but he did not apply for a mortgage because of bad credit rating.

He stole a banker's draft from the Queensbury branch of the Natwest, forged a second signature on it, and used it to pay for the house completion.

Johnson's barrister Jonathan Sandiford said his efforts to juggle the £49,000 stolen from NatWest were doomed to failure because there was nowhere for the money to land.

He said Johnson was suffering from a depressive illness before and at the time of his offending.

Since being dismissed from the bank Johnson had taken on 17 other jobs in an effort to support his family and pay back some of the money.

His mother-in-law was compensated by Natwest for her losses and it was suggested that about £80,000 was still outstanding.

"Some of the money went on debt repayments and day-to-day expenses. There was money spent on a car and a caravan. I suppose some people might call that high living, other people might say it's fairly normal things,'' said Mr Sandiford.

"The holidays were not in Monte Carlo."

He said Alice Illingworth had written to the court pleading for mercy on Johnson's behalf because of the impact a prison sentence would have on his wife and daughters.

The Honorary Recorder of Bradford, Judge Stephen Gullick, described the case as a tragedy for Johnson and his family, but said his offending was a gross breach of trust.

He accepted that the family's finances were stretched and it got worse when Johnson's wife gave up work after their fourth daughter was born.

But he said between September 1998 and March 2001 Johnson had manipulated procedures known to him to try and cover up what he was doing.

The judge said he had read glowing references about Johnson's work with his church and his daughters' schools.

But he added: "It must be made clear to those who are in the position that you were if they are tempted to try and take other people's money in an attempt to recover from their own difficulties prison sentences will follow.''