A CROOKED accountant has been jailed for 15 months for 114 offences involving more than £33,000.

Glenn Gray, 45, pleaded guilty to one charge of stealing cash from engineering consultant Malcolm Moores and three charges of obtaining cash from clients by falsely representing he was VAT-registered, and they were paying the tax for accountancy services.

Colin McCarraher, prosecuting at Southampton Crown Court, described how Mr Moores had hired Gray, who estimated his Corporation Tax liability stood at more than £12,300. Mr Moores wrote out a cheque to cover the sum but instead of forwarding it to the Inland Revenue, Gray put the cash into his building society account.

When Mr Moores discovered the deceit, there was a "short and stormy'' conference between the pair before the police were called in. Gray told them he had spent the money on everyday living expenses.

It is transpired Gray had been charging clients the standard rate of 17.5 per cent VAT for his services when he was no longer registered. He also asked for 110 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

Kevin Baumber, defending, said Gray's criminality was a spiral of offending and not a deliberate and calculated plan to defraud. There was a lack of sophistication in the offences and he was remorseful.

Gray, of Liddel Way, Valley Park, Eastleigh, had admitted the offences before Southampton magistrates who committed him for sentence.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.