Former Yorkshire Bank cashier Victor Bamfield has been jailed for four months after admitting stealing more than £3,000 from customer accounts.

Bradford Crown Court heard last Friday how Bamfield, 24, of Queens Road, South Street, Keighley, used the money to ease financial difficulties which were caused by trying to support his ex-wife and children.

He resigned from his post at the Laisterdyke branch in Bradford after bank officials were notified about discrepancies in customer accounts.

Bamfield admitted three offences of theft and asked for three similar matters to be taken into consideration. Between October and December last year he stole money in sums ranging between £300 and £1,000.

Bamfield was told by Judge Scott Wolstenholme: "It is vitally important that the public are able to trust bank officials with their money no matter how lowly the position in the bank hierarchy. It is necessary to send out a signal to the public that if bank clerks steal money they go to prison."

In deciding the length of the sentence the judge said he had taken account of the fact that Bamfield had ruined his job prospects for life and that he had co-operated fully with the police following his arrest.

His barrister David Kelly said Bamfield was under great financial pressure to support his ex-wife and two children and suggested the offences had snowballed after he got away with stealing money the first time.

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