A FREIGHT company transport manager paid cheques from the business into his own account, a court heard.

Former Army warrant officer Michael Barnes, 45, drew up false invoices to make it appear the sums involved were paid for goods or services on behalf of Lightning Freight Services (LFS), of Seaham, County Durham.

But Durham Crown Court heard that some of the payments did not tally with the invoices he produced to account for his business activity.

He was dismissed in June last year and a subsequent police investigation revealed he was paying cheques into his own account.

Chris Baker, prosecuting, said that, according to the invoices, one cheque was paid to a JR Butler for "dangerous goods advice", while another, for £255, was supposedly for hazardous chemical kits.

He claimed he had paid out of his own pocket and wrote the cheques to himself to repay the sums.

Police traced the addresses on the invoices and discovered they were those of relatives.

Mr Baker said it was estimated LFS lost £2,327 as a result of his activities, which all took place between January and March last year.

Barnes, of Cruddas Park, Newcastle, commenced his £20,000-per-year job, with a company car, in June 2000.

Michael Collins, mitigating, said Barnes, a former Army warrant officer of more than 20 years, was out of work from 1994 and was heavily in debt by the time he was employed by LFS in June 2000.

He admitted seven charges each of theft and forgery and was given a 240-hour community punishment order, the maximum amount possible