A Teesside student ripped off his best friend and banks for almost £5,000, a court was told yesterday.

Matthew Murphy, 23, stole £900 from Jack Kirby, with whom he shared a house, along with Mr Kirby's girlfriend, who were on the same university course as him.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Murphy, of Dalwood Court, Hemlington, cashed his friend's cheques for £50 several times a day at a cheque cashing agency in Stockton.

Sarah Mallett, prosecuting, said he was arrested after a handwriting expert provided evidence.

Seven months later, Murphy bought an off-the-shelf company name and set himself up as the director.

He opened an account at HSBC, claiming he owned a men's outfitters in Yarm High Street, and was given two cheque books and a paying-in book.

He issued cheques for stays at the Thistle Hotel, and goods from WH Smith, both in Middlesbrough.

A month later, he went to Lloyds TSB, in Middlesbrough, with forged bank account details from HSBC and opened a new account. He issued cheques for clothing and foreign currency, which he transferred to sterling.

He became a regular customer at Lunn Poly, Middlesbrough where he told staff he was going to San Francisco but a cashier saw him the day after he was supposed to have flown to the US and suspicions were aroused.

Police armed with a warrant searched his home and recovered documents which led to his arrest.

Murphy said that he got into a vicious circle and he regretted his actions.

In mitigation, David Lamb, said Murphy was now working and had repaid £750 to Lloyds and had saved £1,000 to repay his friend.

He was ordered to do 18 months community punishment and to pay compensation totalling £4,630 after he pleaded guilty to 21 charges of theft and deception between November 2001 and last November, with 48 more taken into consideration.