by Keith Hunt

A crooked finance chief who stole more than £1 million from a freight forwarding company has been jailed for three years.

Michael Clark spirited the money away over several years while on a salary of more than £131,000 a year at SBS Worldwide Ltd.

A judge told the 55-year-old finance director: "This is a very simple case. It is the difference between honest conduct and dishonest conduct - what we teach our children, the difference between right and wrong.

"Regrettably, this was persistent stealing and now I have to punish you."

Judge Philip Statman said he was deducting a year from the four-year sentence he had in mind because Clark, of Boughton Church Cottages, Boughton-under-Blean, Faversham, was paying back the whole of the £1,025,457 he took.

He admitted three offences of theft, four of false accounting and one of furnishing false information.

He denied stealing £39,063 from the company, which has an office at Anchor Boulevard, Crossways, Dartford, and the charge was left on the court file.