A crooked accountant stole over £540,000 from investors and his employers to fuel his chronic gambling addiction.

Durham Crown Court heard how 30-year-old Lee Philip Hammond stole £54,000 over 15 months between October 2008 and January 2010 from a trio of investors in the accountancy software business which he ran.

He also stole around £411,000 from Shildon & Sedgefield Development Agency, and after a merger, £73,437.50 from the newly-formed South Durham Enterprise Agency, in July 2010.

Despite being under investigation and on bail, he then stole £1,957.91 and attempted to trouser an additional £3,750 from Town and City Management Ltd, by creating false invoices.

In defence, lawyer Scott Smith said some of the money was made through the supposed sale of accountancy software packages which did not exist, all of which went on gambling.

Smith said: 'He's of previous good character, and he made a full confession, effectively handing himself in.

'We have obtained details of his gambling addiction and I think the court, in considering sentence, would also be assisted by a pre-sentence report prepared by the Probation Service.

'Some of the fraud, certainly from the confusion beneath all this, appears to be from what is a very profitable little business.

'It involved shares in the company, a company which was, effectively, the defendant.

'Investors, effectively, got a share in the company but he stole from the company and he doesn't seek to challenge that.'

On Monday, Hammond, of Beadnell Close, Darlington, admitted five counts of fraud, three of theft and one of attempted theft.

Judge Christopher Prince - who adjourned sentence, pending preparation of the probation background report on Hammond - warned the defendant that he 'must expect to receive a custodial sentence'.

The judge said he wanted to hear impact statements from Hammond's victims before he passes sentence on March 22.