A BUILDING society director who stole more than £200,000 to buy his family gifts and holidays and cope with his huge debts was yesterday jailed for 18 months.

Gerald Waterworth, of Scalby, near Scarborough, North Yorkshire, was sentenced at York Crown Court for stealing £98,806.74 from the Scarborough branch of the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), where he had worked in a voluntary position as treasurer since 1995.

Despite earning £92,000 a year with a company car and benefits, Waterworth stole the cash to fund spiralling debts.

When discrepancies in the charity's accounts started to be noticed by staff at the Scarborough branch of the CAB, he stole £110,443.93 to replace the missing funds from an account at the Scarborough Building Society, where he had worked as a financial director since 1993.

He had previously pleaded guilty to both offences at Scarborough Magistrates' Court.

It later emerged that Waterworth had stolen 104 payments made through cheques amounting to £98,806.75 between January 1997 and October 2001.

In mitigation, Tom Bayliss said Waterworth had become a desperate man after running up large debts.

Passing sentence, his Honour Judge Paul Hoffman said: ''You are remorseful and have brought no suspicion on anyone else. Your family, and especially your wife, have suffered.

"You have not led an extravagant life with the cash and you have entered into a voluntary arrangement to pay back the money.

''Although these matters are to your credit, this is long-standing fraud with forgery and false documentation involved."

Waterworth was sentenced to 18 months in prison and was suspended from being a company director for five years.