By Keith Hunt

A boss who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from his company and blew it on "wine, women and song", a court heard.

Over two-and-a-half years, Stuart McSorley wined and dined expensive escort girls at top hotels costing £3,000 a night and took expensive holidays.

Jailing the 46-year-old father for three years four months, a judge told him: "The eye-watering amounts spent on hotel rooms, escort agencies and jewellery and on the high life, do not make your position today any easier."

McSorley and other senior staff members of Sontay Ltd took over the company in 2004 in a management buy-out.

He was a shareholder and operations director and in 2007 became the managing director, earning £65,000 a year.

Alex Wilson, prosecuting, said it was in April 2008 that the financial controller looked into orders for the Edenbridge air conditioning company and discovered irregularities.

He found that cash was being diverted into an account held by McSorley by creating some 66 false invoices.

Mr Wilson told Maidstone Crown Court McSorley stole £420,244 from the company between October 2005 and April 2008 and there were other consequential losses taking it nearer £500,000.

The company had 26 employees but three had to be laid off because profits were not as high as expected.

McSorley continued with the deception knowing that.

"It became apparent there was a great deal of extravagant behaviour," said Mr Wilson.

"He was paying for expensive holidays with exclusive holiday companies."

McSorley was also staying at top hotels such as London's Dorchester, paying £3,000 a night, and buying jewellery, furniture and cars.

He was also paying almost £2,000 a night for escorts, taking them to hotels and allowing them to use company credit cards.

"The picture emerges of him using Sontay to bankroll an extravagant lifestyle," said Mr Wilson.

"He maintained the illusion of being independently wealthy."

McSorley, of Burgess Hill, West Sussex, admitted two charges of fraud and three of obtaining a money transfer by deception.

Jeffrey Schone, defending, said: "As he puts it, he fell off the planet when spending money," he said.

"It can be characterised as wine, women and song, as well as gambling."

Judge Philip Statman told McSorley: "This is the gravest of breaches of trust. You were the captain of the ship. It was a skillful fraud.

"Sometimes offences of this kind, however serious, have something behind them which causes a judge to sit up and take note and act in some way as a mitigating feature.

"It is sadly not the case here."