A SEASIDE guest house owner has been spared jail after raising nearly £10,000 to repay an electricity company he swindled by bypassing his meter.

But Stephen Hodgin has been told he must find a further £8,500 to pay off a fine and costs within a month or face six months behind bars

Hodgin, 47, used a switch in his bedroom to control the electricity supply to the Ocean View guest house, in Redcar, east Cleveland.

His scam went undiscovered for almost ten years, until investigators from npower became suspicious because the 12-room bed and breakfast used only five units of electricity a day.

A probe by the utility firm and Cleveland Police revealed that the electricity supply had been tapped into and the meter bypassed.

Hodgin, of Arthur Street, Redcar, was arrested last September but denied any knowledge of the switch until he was confronted with the evidence.

He admitted interfering with the supply when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court last month, and returned yesterday to be sentenced.

Judge John Walford told him he would avoid prison only if he paid a £7,500 fine and costs of £992 by May 14.

"You have had the good sense to raise money in order to meet your obligations," said the judge. "In many ways, of course, to discourage you and others who might be tempted to behave like you, a prison sentence would have been appropriate in this case.

"This was a persistent course of dishonesty over a considerable period of time, involving considerable loss to the power suppliers and benefit to your business and yourself."

Hodgin paid back the £9,700 to npower and he was initially told to prepare to find a similar amount for a fine, but it was reduced to £7,500 after his barrister, Gavin Doig, told the court he faced a further bill from the electric company.

He must foot the £2,000 bill to cover excavation at the guest house and the cost of reconnecting the supply, turned off since the fraud was discovered.