A Tenby businessman accidently put thousands of pounds into a disgruntled former employee’s account.

David Jones, formerly of Tenby, now of Lancut Road, Witney, Oxfordshire, appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates on Tuesday, March 17.

Jones, 48, pleaded guilty to stealing £3,600 from a man in Tenby between March 8 and 21, 2019.

Linda Baker, prosecuting, said the owner of the company authorised payment for work carried out by a different Mr Jones, but £3,600 was put into former employee David Jones’ account by mistake.

The victim contacted his bank asking for the money to be recalled, but was told this was not possible.

Miss Baker said: “The defendant was contacted and said that he would take the money back, but he didn’t, and closed the account.”

The court heard that some of the cash was eventually recovered by the bank, and the bench was told that Jones had a substantial number of previous convictions.

Tom Lloyd, defending, said Jones’ relationship with his employer had ended acrimoniously and Jones believed he had been owed money by the company.

“He wrote it off and moved on. At that point the money came into his bank account. It was a mistake that his employer made.

“He accepts it was a foolish thing to do, and he let himself down. He took it and spent it”

Mr Lloyd told the bench that Jones, a digger-driver, had successfully turned his life around after being released from prison in 2016 and gained full-time employment.

Magistrate imposed a 12-month community order with 100 hours of unpaid work.

He was ordered to pay £3,152.61 in compensation, costs and a surcharge.