A 32-year-old accountant who stole more than £9million to fund a gambling addiction has been jailed for five years.

Wing Kit Chu, a treasury manager with engineering giant Charter plc, took huge sums from his employer over a four year period.

Southwark Crown Court was told how the money was used to fund a gambling addiction that grew rapidly out of control.

Chu, also known as David Chu, made 102 unauthorized withdrawals from Charter plc - 28 of these thefts are on the indictment, totalling £2,503 590.36, to which he pleaded guilty. The remaining 74 thefts, totalling £6,733,722.32 were taken into account by the court.

The defendant, of Dell Close, Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, transferred all the stolen funds into a spread betting account from which he withdrew £800,000. The rest of the money was lost on gambling.

Police said he used the £800,000 to pay for work on his house and the purchase of a top-of-the-range BMW and a Mini Cooper.

He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to the theft at an earlier hearing on December 10 2004.

Detective Sergeant Richard Ward said: "This was a well-planned and sophisticated fraud. Chu not only breached the trust of his employers and the shareholders of Charter plc, but also committed a huge betrayal of his colleagues."

DS Ward added: "He transferred the money by logging on to the banking system in his colleagues' names in order that payments could be authorised. Fortunately, officers were able to establish that it was Chu that had committed the crime and not other employees at Charter. His sentence should act as a deterrent for anyone else considering committing fraud."