An accountant with a 'dishonest streak' who secured a £6,000 tax rebate for a self-employed bricklayer only to pocket it for himself, has been jailed.

A Liverpool Crown Court judge told gambling addict, Jamie Calland, who has a previous conviction for stealing £11,000 from his employers, that he had 'dishonest streak' before jailing him for 16 months.

The 25-year-old, of Forest Road, Prenton, pleaded guilty to theft.

Prosecutor, Martine Snowden, told the court that in July 2010, the duped victim, David King, had asked Calland for help and within weeks was informed by HMRC that he was set to receive a £6,498 rebate.

But in September, Calland sent his client a cheque for £6,176, the rebate minus his fee, and asked him not to cash it for a while.

Yet when he did it bounced and he spoke to Calland who fobbed him off, the Wirral Globe reports.

In November, the police became involved after Calland contacted them to say that the victim of his crime had harassed and threatened him on Facebook. He admitted it and told them that Calland owed him £6,000.

However, Calland was not arrested until almost a year later in September 2011 at Manchester Airport and when later questioned he claimed about £80,000 had gone into his bank account from clients and he had paid out the rebate to the wrong one by mistake.

He said he would not identify who it was due to the Data Protection Act.

Investigations then revealed that the week before the rebate money went into his account he had just 52p in it and a week after it had cleared he had just £2.99 left.

Sarah Phelan, defending, said that Calland was 'deeply ashamed of his behaviour'.

She described him as an immature young man with a strong work ethic, who was terrified at the prospect of jail.

Calland had a gambling problem, she added, but had referred himself to Gamblers Anonymous and was now receiving counselling.