A LEIGH bank manager, who admitted stealing £44,000 from his own bank, was sent to prison for two years at Bolton Crown Court.

Kenneth Darcy, 26, of The Anchorage, Liverpool, former manager of the HFC Bank branch at Leigh, pleaded guilty to the theft of £3,200, and the attempted theft of £7,500 from the bank, and asked for 16 offences involving misappropriation of bank funds to be taken into consideration.

Julian Taylor, prosecuting, said the bank's figures showed Darcy had dishonestly obtained £154,000, but the defence disputed this figure, which contained an element of interest charged at 23 per cent in the calculation.

He said Darcy had repaid £46,000, and the net loss to the bank was therefore put at £44,000.

Mr Taylor said, when he was arrested in Wigan last June, Darcy confessed that he had made fraudulent loans to himself, drawing cash in increasing amounts, to pay back previous loans and spending the residue on living beyond his means.

David Owen, defending, said Darcy had not intended to defraud the bank at the start in the summer of 1994.

He began by taking out a loan on behalf of a friend, who was unable to get a loan himself, in order they could take a holiday together.

The friend lost his job and was unable to pay back Mr Darcy.

An arrangement to transfer the loan to another friend, who wanted to buy a car, fell through, and Darcy found himself saddled with heavy debts.

Mr Owen said Darcy was also affected by the death of another friend from cancer, causing him to adopt a reckless attitude of 'living for the day'.

He said Darcy suddenly changed from a hard-working career-orientated young man to a person committed professional suicide.

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