Grieving father took revenge by stealing £875,000

Heartbreak turned to anger when the couple's employer tried to recover maternity pay from librarian Mrs Maw and demanded she return to work, a court heard.

Already aggrieved that his efforts at work were not appreciated, her husband took revenge on Leeds City Council by siphoning £875,000 from public funds over nine years.

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The father of six hid the fortune in the accounts of the church where he was treasurer before spending it on his family, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Maw, 43, was caught when he tried to use a forged cheque to buy a £350,000 house in Scotland.

Yesterday he was jailed for five years for the elaborate fraud.

Passing sentence, Judge Alistair McCallum told Maw this was "an ugly tale of revenge, dishonesty and disregard to the loyalty of your colleagues and friends".

The money should have gone to the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority. The judge said he was baffled by the failure of the authority and the council to notice the "wholly disproportionate funds" which had disappeared between November 1996 and May 2005.

Referring to the death of the couple's baby four hours after his birth, the judge told Maw he had "every sympathy" for him and his wife for the "tragic events of 1996," but added "it was no reason to do what you did".

The judge said Maw had been able to cloak himself "in the disguise of decency" through his treasurer's role on the Parochial Church Council in Yeadon, West Yorkshire.

He used his position at work and in the church to divert between £8,000 and £20,000 a time through an account for St Andrew's Parish Church in Yeadon, the court was told.

The judge added: "If these accounts had been brought to the attention of a vicar, he would have been flabbergasted to see such vast sums of money flow through."

Maw, of Yeadon, earned £30,000 a year and felt "undervalued" because his lack of qualifications as a chartered-accountant held him back in terms of promotion, the court heard.

Richard Firth, prosecuting, said: "Mr Maw felt that his abilities were taken advantage of, and his reasoning behind the amount of money that he stole was that it was less than a fifteenth of one per cent of the money he made the council."

In 2005, solicitors involved in the purchase of a family house in Scotland became suspicious of Maw and contacted police.

Maw admitted 11 charges of obtaining a money transfer by deception, with a further 40 similar offences taken into consideration.

Jonathan Rose, defending, said the "highly-trusted" worker siphoned money to feed and clothe his large family and not to splash out on extravagant purchases.

This money was not diverted into "expensive cars or holidays abroad or restaurants," he said.

"It was going on day-to-day living and over nine years it brought the average income to £70,000 a year for a family of eight."

The only major purchases Maw had made were three static caravans worth around £100,000 in total, for family holidays in Scotland.