An accountant who stole over £40,000 from a client in a bid to 'keep his family in the manner to which they had become accustomed' has been sentenced to 16 months in prison.

Richard Greg Hoyle, 31, of Ashton-under-Lyne, admitted three counts of theft and two charges of false accounting.

Minshull Street Crown Court heard that Hoyle, a father of four, had made 16 transactions transferring money into his wife's account, which was then spent on food, petrol and general living expenses for his children, aged between six months and seven-years-old .

But his dishonest actions put his firm's client Warehouse Rework Solutions Limited at risk of insolvency.

Hoyle had begun work at Fletchers Chartered Accountants in Dukinfield as a trainee in 2004, working his way up to a trusted position.

The court heard that in October 2012, an investigation began after a WRS director called the firm to say an invoice had not been paid. It found false invoices for 16 transactions totalling £40,935.36 - all paid into the bank account of Hoyle's wife.

When the thefts were revealed Hoyle confessed to the crimes, the Manchester Evening News reports.

Hoyle has since paid back £48,000 - the full amount plus compensation - after re-mortgaging his family home.

Paul Bryning, defending, said: 'He made the first transaction hoping he could repay it before it came to light. He was trying to keep his family in the manner they had become accustomed to.'

Judge Peter Lakin told him: 'You breached their trust in the most serious way. It seems there was an element of greed here.'