AN Oxford Bus Company employee who scammed the firm out of almost £750,000 pounds to fuel his 'out of control' gambling addiction has been jailed.

Colin Smart, of Crundel Rise, Witney, admitted stealing the money from the city bus company between April 2011 and March 2017.

The 47-year old showed no emotion as Oxford Crown Court heard yesterday that the enormous haul of money – £733,737 – could have halted a strike at the company last year which saw the transport network badly disrupted on two days in February and March.

In a victim personal statement read out to the court, bus company finance director Luke Marion said the theft had left a lasting impact on the business.

He said: "Public transport in Oxford has been a difficult market to operate in.

"Had the company been in possession of the funds stolen it would have been very likely this dispute could have been resolved prior to strike action taking place."

He added that it also put a squeeze on existing staff who had to take on Smart's role in the accounts department, and also hurt him personally as the finance director in charge at the time.

The court heard at the sentencing hearing yesterday that Smart had used the money he stole to fund a long-term gambling addiction.

Bank records showed that he had sent large sums of cash to William Hill and Sky Bet.

The accounts employee, who had worked at the firm for 28 years, also splashed out on an Audi R8 valued at £89,332 as well as a Ford Mondeo costing £18,150.

He went on to use the ill-gotten gains to pay off a mortgage on his Witney home, costing £132,661.71.

Smart was finally rumbled for the six-year scam, the court heard, after money transfer company Paypal contacted the bus firm to flag up suspicious activity on its books.

On further investigation the company uncovered a theft of just over £10,000, which payments registered to Smart's personal e-mail address.

Smart was suspended but it was later revealed that the final tally had in fact been hundreds of thousands of pounds higher when the full extent of the fraud was uncovered.

The married father-of-one had altered 'float' payments, the court was told, accrued from daily tallies from kerbside ticket collectors before he pocketed the cash, having covered his tracks from his position in the accounts team.

Investigators also found that Smart would regularly make sizeable deposits into two bank accounts following each theft.

Sentencing Smart, Judge Roger Chapple, said: "You were a trusted member of the accounts team.

"You systematically and repeatedly abused that trust that had been placed on you.

"The company have lost about £725,000 and as Luke Marion observes these are not victimless crimes.

"The repercussions of your dishonesty have and will be felt by not only shareholders but the fare paying passengers of Oxford."

In mitigation, Clare Fraser said that her client was of previous good character and had only begun stealing the money after he fell into a crippling gambling addiction at the beginning of 2011.

She told the court that his blossoming habit had 'spiralled out of control' and that he had kept his addiction to himself rather than seek help.

Smart was jailed for four years, made up of a four-year sentence for converting criminal property, eight months for one count of fraud by false representation, and two years for a single count of theft, all to run concurrently.

Speaking after the verdict had been handed down, Oxford Bus Company managing director, Phil Southall, said Smart's 'betrayal' had 'shocked and disappointed' the firm.

He said: "Theft of any kind cannot and will not be tolerated, once we became aware of the issue we immediately called the police and we support the judge's verdict.

"We will also be robustly seeking to retrieve as much of the money that was taken as we can.

"This is an extremely rare act, executed by someone who exploited a loophole that only someone in his position could have discovered.

"He was caught following improvements in technology and we can confirm that our systems and procedures have been further tightened as a result.

"Unfortunately such actions have wide ranging negative consequences and there are no winners in this case involving a very long serving employee with an addiction."

Smart will also be subject to a proceeds of crime hearing in a bid to recover the money stolen, and will be held at the same court on June 7.