AN accountant who plundered more than £218,000 from his employers and clients was arrested after returning from an exotic holiday in Hawaii, a court heard.

Colin Williams was jailed for three and a half years after Swin-don Crown Court heard he stole “any which way” he could from the company for which he worked, as he squandered the money on luxury holidays around the world.

The 36-year-old, of Russley Close, Peatmoor, not only left the business struggling by his three years of crime but clients also found their tax had not been paid.

As well as stealing money given by clients for the taxman, he also stole the fees they paid, as well as cash meant to pay the accountancy’s corporation tax.

He also kept money meant for six colleagues’ life insurance, which was part of their pay package.

Chris Smyth, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that Williams became a partner at SD Knee in Old Town in 2007.

From February 2011, he started to siphon off clients' money for his own purposes, only stopping when he was caught.

Over, three years, he took more than £77,000 from business and individuals by either understating their tax liability or just not completing and submitting their forms, meaning they not only still owed the tax but were also liable to fines and penalties for not submitting accurate tax returns.

He carried out similar scams for his own, boss Simon Knee’s and the company’s tax returns, pocketing just short of £80,000.

He also kept more than £56,000 in payments to the company from clients for work done for them and £2,774 due to go on life cover for staff as past of their pay.

He had let Mr Knee – with whom he had worked before – believe he was a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and another of Williams’s deceptions was getting £2,467 for five years’ subscription to the institute and keeping it, though he was never a member.

Williams was caught out when Mr Knee noticed a couple of invoices for work he had done and when tackled he said it was a mistake as he had financial problems.

Mr Smyth said Williams produced doctored bank statements to show it was a one-off but when Mr Knee found out more problems he called in the police.

When police arrived to arrest Williams, he had yet to unpack his bags from a trip to Honolulu and, when questioned, accepted taking £34,000.

But as detectives uncovered more and more, Williams was called back in by police twice, both times saying there was no more, though each time that officers found something else.

Mr Smyth said Williams took £218,025.87 in total but the loss to the company and its clients was much more in extra work needed, as well as fines and interest to the taxman.

He added that travel agents said Williams – who pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and three of fraud – was taking two or three holidays each year.

Richard Williams, defending, said his client had lost everything as a result of his offending, with his wife and step children leaving him and his job and pension going.

“The defendant would wish me to offer in open court an apology to both Mr Knee himself and the clients of that business,” he said.

“He certainly hopes that the firm can survive. He stands before you extremely ashamed and publicly humiliated.”

Jailing Williams, Judge Peter Blair QC said he had taken advantage of his position to gain £218,000 – “a huge sum of money to the ordinary man in the street”.

The judge added: “That has been used on expenditure that has helped sustain a rather more lavish lifestyle than you would have been able to enjoy, particularly to luxuriant, expensive holidays that you were able to take.

“As you know, prison follows when people take money of this sort of quantity.”