A CONVICTED fraudster, whose £43,000 worth of deception closed down a York business, walked free from court because his wife is fighting for her life after being set on fire.

Now his former boss says justice has not been done after the business manager escaped a jail sentence.

Kerry Wilson, 30, left husband Paul Wilson after his deceit at the Londesborough Motor Services' branch in James Street was uncovered, his barrister, Taryn Turner, told York Crown Court.

But two weeks before her husband was due to face justice, a man poured lighter fuel over Mrs Wilson and set her alight.

Wilson, 31, is spending every minute he can at his wife's bedside in intensive care at Nottingham's specialist burns unit.

She remains in a critical condition, having received burns all over her body. A man has been charged with grievous bodily harm for the incident, which happened in the early hours of November 22 at Mrs Wilson's home.

Sentencing Wilson, Judge Peter Charlesworth said: "Eighteen months it would have been, but for what happened a fortnight ago and your response to it." Instead, the judge suspended the 18-month prison sentence for two years.

Londesborough Motor Services owner Peter Coopland said: "Obviously we have concerns and anything that has happened to his wife is deeply regretted.

"However, I feel that justice has not been truly served given the amount of what has been done and the impact on the people he has affected."

Prosecutor Alan Mitcheson said Wilson's former employers had to close its York branch, where 12 people worked, because Wilson had stolen £43,000 worth of stock and sold it at a 75 per cent discount to anyone who asked. The firm's Scarborough branch remains open.

The judge told Wilson to start saving up, as he faced a confiscation hearing, at which he should be made to hand over a "significant" amount of money.

Wilson, said to live at Southfield Park, Market Weighton, pleaded guilty to theft between August 1999 and June 2003, and to false accounting.

Mr Mitcheson said Wilson was the trusted number two on a salary of £35,000 a year with a company car and a free holiday to Mauritius.

Mrs Turner said Wilson's motive was unclear, although he had been under financial pressure. The couple had sold their house to pay off debts and Wilson was now penniless and jobless.

Updated: 09:26 Saturday, December 06, 2003