A thieving care home manager has been spared a jail sentence after agreeing to repay £25,000 to the charity which employed him.

Richard Godfrey used money from the petty cash tin at the Pippin House home in Newton Abbot for his own spending and carried on his fiddle for six years.

He was only found out when he went off sick and his replacement suspected there had been irregularities in the way money was accounted for.

Godfrey, who now runs a bed and breakfast business in Kingsteignton, has now agreed to repay £25,000 by September 1 this year to the charity Action on Hearing Loss, which runs the home.

Godfrey, aged 58, of Brookfield Close, Kingsteignton, admitted fraud and was jailed for a year, suspended for two years and ordered to do 140 hours unpaid community work by Judge Robert Linford at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him:"You worked for this organisation and you took money from them. It is as simple as that. Your basis of plea says you took £14,000 over the years but you have agreed to pay compensation of rather more than that.

"You have pleaded guilty and lost your good character, which is a penalty in itself for someone who has worked hard all their life.

"This was a substantial sum of money which was taken in breach of trust. I am sure you will not come back before any court again but if the compensation is not paid, there will be Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings."

Mr Herc Ashworth, prosecuting, said the offences happened when Godfrey was in charge of the petty cash at the home between 2010 and 2016.

An internal inquiry identified a loss of around £37,000 but Godfrey’s basis of plea, in which he says the figure is £14,360 is now accepted.

Mr Ashworth said the only way of proving the exact figure would be a time consuming examination of all the petty cash entries over six years.

Mr Malcolm Salloway, defending, said an agreement has been reached by which the sentence will be based on the lower figure but Godfrey will repay £25,000.

He said Godfrey is working part time as well as running a bed and breakfast despite being in poor health and suffering from diabetes and a hernia.

He said:"He cooperated with the investigation, he was a man of good character, and his wife and family have been particularly upset by this. He has managed to get his life back in order and is working hard."