A NORTH Yorkshire bank manager has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after stealing more than £350,000.

Andrew Ward, 34, admitted siphoning off huge sums of money from Yorkshire Bank into his own account.

He used the proceeds of his crime to pay off the mortgage on his £90,000 house, The Beeches, in Low Eggborough Road, Eggborough, near Selby, and to shower gifts on his partner.

Leeds Crown Court was told that Ward used his senior position at Yorkshire Bank's Meanwood business centre, in Leeds, to swindle the bank.

He invented customers with bad debts, then took money, claiming it was being used to write off the debts.

But the money was then diverted into his own building society account and used to fund his expensive lifestyle.

Ward, who drove a top-of-the-range BMW, bought his boyfriend a special edition Landrover Freelander with the cash he stole.

He also lavished thousands of pounds on furnishing his home and landscaping his garden.

The deception went undetected for two-and-a-half years before the company discovered the "sophisticated" fraud.

Ward, who admitted seven charges of obtaining money by deception, was finally caught when fellow employees became suspicious and reported the matter to police.

The bank was able to seize cash from Ward's account and has so far recovered £130,000.

Ward's barrister, Eric Elliot, told the court his client had pressed the self-destruct button, and stripped himself of dignity and all respect.

Ward had been a "relatively high flyer", but that could not disguise a troubled man who had a vulnerable personality. He had ultimately paid a very high price.

Updated: 11:10 Wednesday, April 10, 2002