Accountant jailed over £310,000 thefts of taxpayers' money

Some 220,000 of the cash taken from a Government-backed company had still not been traced, as Steven Calderbank claimed he had since been struck with amnesia, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Calderbank, 46, of Hallam Road, Nelson, Lancashire, told police he could not even recall being employed by Manchester-based Skills Solutions when he was arrested.

However, doctors found no evidence his "illness" was genuine as Judge Beverley Lunt ruled that he was driven purely by greed.

The father of three had complete access to the accounts of the not-for-profit organisation, which distributes funding for school and college apprenticeships and has an annual turnover of 10m.

Between September 2004 and January 2008 he systematically paid shadow invoices into his own bank account, and his misdeeds were not uncovered until an internal audit.

Calderbank pleaded guilty to 20 specimen counts of theft at an earlier hearing and asked for 18 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

He was jailed for 26 months yesterday.

Hugh McKee, prosecuting, said: "He told his wife he was under pressure because of the audit and she then gave him an ultimatum to explain how he had got the money to pay for a 60,000 extension to the house."

Sums of 15,000 each were also spent on a new conservatory and car, Mr McKee added.

He then left a note to his wife stating he had left home and gone to London. She reported him as missing and he returned six days later and was arrested.

His wife, who had been seriously ill since 2000 and died last January, was also detained as part of the inquiry before she being released without charge.

When interviewed, Calderbank said he had lost his memory and could not recollect working at Skills Solutions or stealing the money, but he did remember his teenage children growing up.

A thorough financial investigation was undertaken to determine where the money was spent but it only revealed the three sizeable purchases.

Mark Stuart, defending, said: "His only explanation is that he must have spent it on the house, the kids, the wife and their general living."

His teacher wife was forced to leave her job because of her illness and the investment in the house by Calderbank may have been a form of "nestbuilding" ahead of when she died, he added.