A cash strapped family man who fiddled himself £41,000 in wages has been spared immediate custody as an act of mercy.

Paul Gamble was working as a site manager for Autocleanz at Portbury Docks when he submitted fake workers pay claims and pocketed the cash himself, Bristol Crown Court heard on Thursday.

Father-of-three Gamble, aged 50, of Kenn Moor Drive in Clevedon, pleaded guilty to obtaining a money transfer by deception, four counts of fraud and three counts of false accounting.

Imposing 12-month jail term suspended for two years, Judge David Ticehurst told him: "You were spoken to by your employer and despite that you carried on with your fraud as a result of the ghastly spiral of debt in which you'd got yourself.

"The people who suffer in this are your wife and children and those who depend on you.

"I impose the suspended sentence as an act of mercy and I do so because of the consequences for your family."

The judge ordered Gamble to be supervised by a probation officer for two years and carry out 120 hours unpaid work.

He said: "Consider yourself remarkably fortunate."

Martin Steen, prosecuting, said though Gamble picked up a dangerous driving conviction in 2000 he was otherwise of good character.

He told the court: "He was responsible at Autocleanz for providing the labour to move the cars.

"Most of those were employed on a self-employed basis and he was site manager and collected work records."

Mr Steen said there came a time when the company questioned some payments made but Gamble was left to continue in his job.

Mr Steen said: "By his guilty plea he admits he used names of people for his own substantial financial advantage."

In due course another court hearing will be held to claw back Gamble's proceeds of crime.

Adam Vaitilingan, defending, said his client had shown remorse for what he had done.

He said his client had worked hard all his life and owned a house in Clevedon but because of his modest earnings he took on another mortgage and became swamped in debt.

Mr Vaitalingan said even though Gamble was racking up 60 hours work a week he was still in financial difficulty.

He said: "He was looking at a chasm of debt and unable to see out of it.

"He said prison would be easier for him compared to his family."