A COMPANY accountant who stole more than £25,000 from his firm and spent the money on prostitutes has been jailed for four years after his wife discovered his guilty secret.

Stephen Webster's crimes came to light when wife Joy found times and meetings with escort agencies on his computer.

Webster, 43, fled to the Dominican Republic once he realised his cover was blown.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how he had spun a web of lies to Joy when they married in 1997, saying he had attended the military training academy at Sandhurst.

He got a job at Knights office equipment, in Gateshead, in April last year but by June returned to fraudulent ways.

He persuaded bosses they would make a greater profit in the computer trade if they allowed him to deal in cash.

He even conned them into believing he was installing computers for the Children's Hope charity in York and pocketed £11,800.

The court heard that Webster then fled to the Dominican Republic in November last year but returned in December. Prosecutor Tom Moran said he stayed in a B&B in South Shields before visiting his wife, saying he had tried to send her money without luck.

He said that she found he had taken her credit card abroad, withdrawing £360 and transferring a further £450.

The court heard how despite having £25,230 in cash from the company, Webster used none of it to support his wife and three-year-old daughter.

Mr Moran said the only clue as to where the money had gone came from his wife who found a list of escort agency websites on his computer.

Defence barrister Ronald Mitchell said Webster had used the money to pay off blackmailers, an account which Judge Beatrice Bolton found "totally implausible".

Webster's first conviction for deception was in 1974, when he was just 16.

The following year he was convicted for similar offences at Sheffield Crown Court.

He has since appeared in crown courts at Nottingham, Chelmsford, Penrith and Newcastle and spent two years in jail for deception and fraud.