A LONGHOPE dad-of-two who went behind his employer's back to cheat him out of more than £15,000 worth of business has been jailed for a year.

Salesman Mitchell Hudson of The Willows, Longhope, ordered car parts on behalf of his employers, Twigworth Breakers, but then sold them privately to his own 'clientele'.

He claimed to Gloucester Crown Court that he always paid Twigworth Breakers back by putting cash in the till for anything he sold on his own behalf.

But his evidence was rejected as 'wholly unbelievable' by Judge Jamie Tabor QC.

The judge certified that Hudson, who has two teenaged sons, had benefited from crime to the tune of £15,547 over two years.

But Judge Tabor accepted that Hudson is in dire financial circumstances, with his house in negative equity.

The judge made a formal order for a nominal £1 to be confiscated from Hudson under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Hudson had admitted fraud against the company between January 2009 and September 2010 but put forward three different bases of plea in succession – each seeking to minimise his culpability.

Because he refused to accept that he had profited from his frauds – and insisted that he had repaid the firm – Judge Tabor called him to give evidence on oath.

Hudson repeated in the witness box that he had always put cash into the till to cover whatever parts he ordered from a Scottish supplier and had delivered to his own home or other addresses. He said he often paid more into the Twigworth Breakers till then he had received from private customers.

James Tucker, prosecuting, said Hudson's offending was brought to light thanks to a sharp-eyed police officer who saw him passing packages to another man in a lay-by near Twigworth Breakers.

ohn Dyer, defending, said Hudson's house has been up for sale for five months but is in negative equity because of a second mortgage he took out to buy a conservatory.

He said if Hudson went to prison it would be disaster for his wife, a school meals supervisor, and their two sons, one of whom is 16 and about to go to sixth form college and the other 13.

Passing sentence, Judge Tabor said: "There was a long course of offending. It was only stopped by a very alert police officer. It was theft in breach of trust and I can give you no credit for your guilty plea in view of the evidence you gave."