A FINANCIAL director plundered almost £200,000 from the firm where he worked by writing out cheques to himself.

Over a two-and-a half-year period Colin Baird used the cash to buy himself a sports car, as well as owning horses which he kept in a field near his house.

The 48-year-old, who with his wife had a combined income of more than £60,000, has been jailed for two years after he admitted stealing the cash to fund his lifestyle.

Ian Halliday, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court Baird abused his position of trust at AGI Thamesdown to steal the money and used his skill in accounts to cover up the losses.

Baird started working at the multinational printing company, based on the Kembrey Park industrial estate, in March 2000, but didn't start stealing until three years later.

Mr Halliday said: "As a financial director in the Swindon office he had access to the company chequebook.

"A colleague, who speaks in his statement of being hard pressed at work, would be passed cheques which were blank and removed from the chequebook who would then, trusting the defendant to deal with him honestly, put a signature on them.

"The defendant then took them and filled in his own name as the payee then took whatever he wanted to transfer. This persisted for two years.

"In the false accounting charge he covered his tracks in the company accounts by making it appear as if sums were to legitimate creditors of the company."

He said that in total Baird embezzled £195,295 from the company between March 2003 and December last year.

"He and his family kept a number of horses in a paddock near to the house and one of the things he had bought, but later sold, was a sports car, a Mazda MX5.

"His income was £40,000 rising to £43,000 and the income of his wife £20,000 which leads the Crown to suggest to the court that there must have been an element of high living in the way he was spending the money because the income was more than enough to live a modest lifestyle."

He said the prosecution was seeking a compensation order as Baird had £136,000 of equity in his house.

Baird, of Gospel Oak Cottage, Braydon, pleaded guilty to four counts of theft, one of false accounting and asked for 15 further thefts to be taken into consideration.

Maria Lamb, defending, said that her client had no previous convictions and had been in work since he was 18, apart from a year and a half after being made redundant.

She said, although it was no excuse for what he had done, Baird had been put under intense pressure at work with little support.

The judge decided not to impose a compensation order, saying the company was entitled to pursue him through the civil courts to get their money back.