A finance manager of a UK wine company has been jailed for 15 months after stealing £30,000 from his employers to fund a gambling addiction.

Paul Wyeth, 30, was given the jail sentence after a Southampton court was told earlier this week that he had gambled away three times as much as he been earning.

Employed at Thierry Wine Services since 2005, Wyeth had been responsible for paying invoices, preparing VAT returns and keying in bank statements.

Prosecutor Gary Venturi told the court that in June 2007 Wyeth began stealing taking money from the importer's euro and sterling account as well as petty cash, starting with small amounts around Euro 50, but increasing the amounts as time went on.

The thefts were discovered in 2009, while he was on holiday and a colleague was asked to carry out an audit of the company's books in preparation for the following year's budget.

Wyeth admitted various accounts of theft to the court and false accounting.

The prosecution claimed that he had stolen more than £38,000 how defence barrister Keeley Harvey claimed the figure was not that high but accepted the amount was more than £30,000.

Judge Simon Foster gave Wyeth a 15 month prison sentence and claimed the his criminal behaviour as startling simple and that he seriously breached his employers trust.