AN accountant who stole £80,000 from a family firm in Prestwich has been sent to prison -- for the next 30 weekends.

Gary Harrison is one of the first in the country to be sentenced to intermittent custody.

Under the new sentencing guidelines, Recorder Tim Holroyde QC, sitting at Bolton Crown Court, jailed him for 90 days to be served over weekends.

Harrison, aged 44, will have to turn up at Kirkham Open Prison next Friday at 6pm and stay there until Sunday evening.

The judge said he could only pass the sentence with Harrison's consent but he warned him: "It is a demanding and rigorous regime and it is your responsibility to make your own way to Kirkham prison."

Harrison pleaded guilty to the theft of £80,000.

The court heard the father-of-four was addicted to gambling and spent the majority of the money on fruit machines.

He withdrew £250 a day using a company cash card and spent almost every afternoon in the pub playing on them.

Prosecutor Jane Dagnall said Harrison started working in 1993 as an accountant at the Prestwich firm, Leach's Furniture Contractors, based in Cheetham Hill Road.

The firm, which dated back to 1888, employed seven people and had a turnover of £1m at its height.

When the company director Roger Norman retired in 2000, he gave Harrison a 47 per cent share in the company, retained five per cent himself and gave 48 per cent to his son Michael.

The court heard that Harrison, of Ashton-under-Lyne, went on holiday in May 2003 and Mr Norman jnr noticed some discrepancies in the accounts.

He confronted the accountant and Harrison admitted taking money belonging to the firm, although he didn't know what the full sum was.

Harrison, who has no previous convictions, was arrested and charged last November.

Defending him, Rachel Shenton said he didn't use the money to fund a lavish lifestyle but had spent it on his gambling addiction.

She said: "His wife of 23 years were completely unaware of what was going on.

"He has already suffered a great deal. He was made bankrupt last month and the family are going to lose their home. He has four children aged between 22 years and two.

"He has been a hard working family man all his life and he is deeply ashamed of what he has done."

The Home Office issued the new sentencing guidelines last year and since January, only a handful of people have been jailed part-time.