A timid accountant who stole more than £24,000 to help fund his wife's spending has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Carl Hawkswell, 40, who now looks after his teenage daughter, committed five separate thefts from Bradford-based car dealership JCT 600.

The offences eventually came to light in February.

Hawkswell immediately admitted taking the money. When he was dismissed from the firm his outstanding salary of £3,383 was used to pay back some of the stolen money.

Prosecutor Francis Radcliffe told Bradford Crown Court yesterday how Hawkswell, who had been with the company since 1995, was working at a Leeds branch when he started stealing money in February last year.

His offending took place over a seven-month period. During that time he stole a total of £24,898.

Hawkswell, of Wakefield Road, Ack-worth, Pontefract, pleaded guilty to a charge of false accounting and a sample allegation of theft.

He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, but Judge Terence Walsh said there were exceptional circumstances in his case which allowed him to suspend the jail term for two years.

The court was told Hawkswell still owed the firm about £21,500 and Judge Walsh ordered him to hand over £14,500 which represented his share of proceeds from the matrimonial home.

Hawkswell's workload was too much for him at the time and the offences took place against the background of a "disaster of a marriage", said barrister Colin Harvey in mitigation.

He described Hawkswell's then-wife as "profligate".

He told how Hawkswell had bought her a sports car they could not afford, and how after she left him bin-liners and suitcases packed with her unworn designer clothing were discovered.

Mr Harvey said credit cards in his wife's name were all up to their limit and loans and other debts were generated by her.

"He is a quiet and timid man," he added.

Hawkswell was ordered to pay £600 costs, but Judge Walsh did not make any formal order for the repayment of the outstanding £7,000 to JCT 600.