An accountant who worked for a care home in North East England has been jailed for defrauding residents of £184,000 which he used to fund a cocaine addiction he claimed was the result of the stress of his job.

Steven Mason - previously a senior audit manager at Four Seasons Health Care when he carried out the frauds on the estates of dead former residents between September 2010 and September 2011 - has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to two years in jail following a hearing at Tesside Crown Court.

Mason sent emails to Four Seasons area managers telling them to send the balance of dead residents' cash accounts to his office in Darlington if their next of kin were not known. He then paid these cheques into two accounts, one opened and operated by a relative and the other named Fore Seasons Ltd which was opened by a friend.

Mason paid £183,785 into the accounts, using some of it to buy a car and pay off debts.

The court heard that Mason had been involved in developing the fraud policy at Four Seasons Health Care, which has 500 homes across the UK. His 'spectacular' fall from grace was caused by worries that his job was under threat during the credit crunch, which resulted in his increasing cocaine use.

A Four Seasons Health Care spokeswoman said members of its financial management team had co-operated with the police investigation into financial irregularities, and had also conducted an internal review of procedures and put in place additional checks.

'We are disappointed and let down that a member of staff could abuse their position of trust in this way. We have reimbursement arrangements in place, as a matter of routine, so that none of our residents or their families would have experienced any lasting financial loss,' the spokeswoman said.