A CAR dealership employee turned fraudster stole more than £10,000 through his work, York Crown Court heard.

Michael Richards, 36, redirected more than 70 cheques from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

The cheques were to Evans Halshaw of Clifton Moor, York - but Richards paid the money into his own bank account, said Kelly Sherif, prosecuting.

Richards claimed that he had been trying to safeguard the money because the cheques were so old that they were running out of time to be paid into a bank account.

“I don’t accept that explanation,” deputy circuit judge Tim Clayson told Richards. “That was nothing to do with trying to make sure your employer's moneys were kept safe.

“You could so easily have spoken to senior management or management senior to yourself.”

Earlier he had asked Richards’ solicitor advocate Kirsty Covey: “What is the real reason?”

“I don’t have instructions,” she replied, meaning that Richards had not told her how to answer such a question.

“It seems to be a case of trying to enrich yourself,” the judge told Richards.

Richards, of Stope Avenue, Kinsley, near Pontefract, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.

He was given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months on condition he does 80 hours’ unpaid work.

He must also repay all the money to his former employers.

Ms Sherif said on November 18, 2021, the DVLA told police that 73 cheques that it had sent to Evans Halshaw had not reached the company’s bank accounts.

Instead they had been paid into Richards’ account.

At the time, he had worked for the company. He had taken the cheques, crossed out the Evans Halshaw payee name and written in his own.

Then he had put them into his own account in 18 batches between May 24, 2021 and August 13, 2021.

Altogether the cheques had totalled £10,346.03.

Richards had no previous convictions.

Ms Covey said: “He has managed to get another similar job, I understand."

The judge read a probation service report and other documents before passing sentence.

He said he took into account Richards’ domestic circumstances and his wife’s ill health.

York Crown Court heard that there were claims that money had been repaid to Evans Halshaw.

But neither the prosecution nor the defence could tell the court the true situation.

Ms Sherif said after checking with the CPS: “There is no record whatsoever of any monies being repaid.”

Ms Covey said of Richards: “He has tried corresponding between himself and the bank and he cannot get any information from them.”

The judge ordered Richards to repay £10,346.03 and said he would alter the amount if he was told definitively in two weeks time that there had been repayments.