A ferry company worker who pocketed £20,000 by faking vital documents about passenger numbers has been sent to prison.

DFDS deputy manifest officer Matthew Jackson sold tickets but then stole the cash from drivers arriving at the port.

And when he was found out, Jackson tried to implicate former colleagues – which resulted in some being suspended and quizzed.

Others had to attend court and give sworn evidence to deny unfounded accusations that they had been behind the eight-month sophisticated fraud.

But a jury at Canterbury Crown Court decided it was the lying executive who had tried to cover his tracks by faking vital ships’ manifest documents.

Now Jackson has been jailed for two years after the judge, Recorder Jonathan Higgs, told him he faced a “harsh” punishment to send out a message to others.

“One can only imagine what could have happened if there had been a serious incident and the emergency services had to rely on false manifests,” he said.

“You knew what you were doing and you let ships sail on at least 200 occasions with false manifests. You then cast blame on other people. Others, who were perfectly innocent, found themselves under suspicion.”

Jackson, of Shorncliffe Road, Folkestone, had denied stealing £19,932.95 between December 31, 2013, and September 2014.

He has also denied an offence of “mis-manifesting of passenger ships on 209 occasions”.

Prosecutor Alexia Zimbler told the jury how Jackson worked for the Danish-owned company DFDS Ferries in its drivers’ reception building in Dover.

“This defendant accepted cash payments from passengers buying boarding tickets for the next available ship and then not declaring that money to the company but keeping it for himself.”

When police checked Jackson’s bank account they discovered “several large cash payments” had been deposited.