A BUSINESSMAN who fleeced his company of £500,000 to lavish gifts on a high-class call girl has been jailed.

Peter Lee, 51, ruined his bus company, Durham Travel Services, and left 170 workers without jobs, after spending nearly £600,000 on three women.

The married father-of-two bought sex at £1,000 a night from London prostitute Tia, 27, and gave her a BMW convertible, jewellery and a holiday to Bali before his crimes were detected.

Durham Crown Court heard on Friday that Lee's life was in ruins and he had gone from living a lavish lifestyle to existing on £72 a week state benefit.

His marriage had also failed after the revelations came to light and he had tried to kill himself.

Lee, who had no previous convictions, admitted three counts each of theft, false accounting and forgery at an earlier hearing.

Stephen Duffield, prosecuting, said the company managing director and shareholder had siphoned off just over £590,000 on the prostitute and other women.

He had paid escort Tia, real name Antoinette Cato, £493,000 between February 1999 and July 2002.

From his office in Seaham he authorised regular computerised payouts to the call girl. He also paid Kaye Carter, an associate of Cato's, £60,600 between April 2000 and December 2001.

The third beneficiary was Susan Stewart, from Bishop Auckland, with whom he had an affair and fathered a teenage son, who received just under £38,000.

Lee had set up the business with Eric Bowerbank in 1988 and at the time of the offences he owned 35pc of the company and associated firms.

Mr Duffield said the firm decided to break into the London bus market in the mid-Nineties and Lee began spending more time in the capital, where he met Tia. In 2000, office manager Maureen Bell discovered documents that showed he was having a relationship with Tia.

Later, the firm ran into trading difficulties unrelated to the theft and Lee had attempted to cover it up by forging the firm's accounts.

His dishonesty was discovered in July 2002. The businessman disappeared for several days and later resurfaced in Cumbria, where he had taken a drugs overdose.

Paul Cleasby, defending, said his client had shown deep remorse.

Judge John Walford told Lee he would serve three years for the theft and one year concurrently for the other charges of false accounting and forgery.

Outside court, Mr Bowerbank branded Lee a small businessman with a big ego. He said: "His actions have been despicable."