A CHARITY worker who stole from his employer escaped jail yesterday.

Stephen Joseph Phillips, 41, of Ashbrook, Sunderland, admitted nine counts of false accounting and four of theft when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court.

The court heard the offences had all taken place while he worked for the Hartlepool Alzheimer's Trust, between September 1998 and September 1999 as a centre manager at the Haven Residential Centre, in Seaham, County Durham.

The total amount stolen was about £250.

The court heard that the false accounting charges related to falsifying receipts and the theft charges were thefts of small amounts of cash belonging to the trust.

When Phillips was caught he tried to implicate others working at the trust, it was alleged.

At a previous hearing, Natalie Wortley, for Phillips, said her client had now gained employment with another organisation which, he said, knew the circumstances surrounding his dismissal.

However, after Judge Michael Taylor ordered that this claim should be checked with the new employers, it was found they did not know that he had admitted charges of dishonesty.

The court heard yesterday that Phillips was still working for the organisation, but had been demoted.

Judge Taylor said that if he jailed Phillips, the public would bear the cost of supporting him and his family on his release as he would lose his job. He said therefore he would suspend a six-month jail sentence for 18 months