A COLLEGE security guard who took £1,000 from the bank account of a student has escaped a prison sentence.

Peter Harris, 49, took a bank card and PIN number in an envelope left in a pigeon-hole for one of the students and used it to withdraw cash from his account.

Ian Walker's mother had forwarded the letter on to her son from the family home in West Lothian, Scotland, but Harris had taken the letter from the college.

The court heard that Harris, who worked as a security guard and porter at South Tyneside College, has never been in trouble with the law before the incident and would pay the money back in full.

He was caught when CCTV cameras at the college recorded him taking another envelope belonging to a different student.

The court heard that Harris, of Garth Crescent, South Shields, had been under a lot of mental strain before he committed the offences after moving into a home which needed more improvements than he could afford.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that he had used the money to pay off his own debts and was full of remorse about what had happened.

He had tried twice to commit suicide since his arrest for the thefts, and the court was told that his wife felt very let down by his actions although she was willing to stand by him.

Judge Judith Moir said she accepted that his actions had been out of character and sentenced him to a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years.