A CAR salesman who stole £30,000 from his St Albans employer was jailed for 15 months on Friday.

St Albans Crown Court heard David Groves, 46, who worked for Mann Egerton in the city, sold a Land Rover Discovery for £30,000 and pocketed the cash.

Mr Groves pleaded guilty to two charges of theft and four charges of false accounting. Jailing him for 15 months, Judge Phillip Rueff told him it was a "great tragedy" that he should go to prison when he had led a blameless life until his mid 40's.

He told the father-of-three: "This is a tragedy not only for you, but also for your family.

"But it was a very serious breach of trust and only a custodial sentence is justified."

Edward Jenkins, prosecuting, told the court Groves, who lives in Stevenage, was put in charge of the Land Rover division in 1994 after two years' service.

He was allowed to work unsupervised but resigned in May last year, realising he could not correct the dishonest transactions he had made. He was arrested when these deals came to light.

Groves told police he put some of the £30,000 Discovery money back into the system to cover the earlier shortfalls and some he spent, but half of the cash was stolen from his desk drawer.

Alexander Milne, defending, said Groves was "a man of good character who had worked solidly since leaving school".

He added: "In the car business he found himself under increasing pressure in a cut-throat world. After the first dishonest transaction he was robbing Peter to pay Paul."

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