A SALES controller stole £40,000 from a car dealership by pocketing the cash from the sale of 19 vehicles.

James Bergquist turned to theft from his employer, the Burnley branch of Perrys, in Accrington Road, after being threatened over a debt.

But Bergquist, of Sandy Lane, Darwen, ended up getting in more trouble when his bosses uncovered his deception.

The father-of-three was charged with 19 counts of theft, and brought before Burnley Crown Court.

Judge Jonathan Gibson warned Bergquist, 30, he could be jailed, but then he gave him one last chance to avoid jail.

He delayed sentencing by seven months to see if Bergquist was serious about paying back the money he stole.

Prosecutor Nick Courtney said Bergquist began working for Perrys as a salesman in July 2008 and was promoted to sales controller for used and auction vehicles in December.

The court heard that he used 19 cars which had been taken in part exchange, but did not hand over the £40,400 profits.

Mr Courtney accepted Bergquist had been subjected to serious threats by someone who 'did appear capable of carrying them out'.

The court was told his manager Terry Davies, who oversaw the entire sales operation at the sites, unravelled the theft when he asked Bergquist last May where a Citroen car was.

Bergquist said it was on a pub car park after breaking down while he was driving it.

When the vehicle was not back after two days Mr Davies went to the car park and found there was no vehicle there.

Mr Davies then carried out stock checks, initially found 16 more vehicles were missing, confronted Berqquist and he admitted selling all of them.

Bergquist was suspended and then arrested in June last year. More incidents then came to light.

He told officers money was being extorted from him and other members of his family.

The defendant said he had borrowed £2,000 from someone in December 2005 when he was living in Liverpool, but had been unable to pay it back.

Bergquist, who has five previous convictions, admitted 19 counts of theft between January and May last year.

The court heard he had a new job and could pay back the proceeds. He had already handed over £12,400.

Sentencing was delayed until March 4, on condition the defendant pays back at least £500 a month to Perrys and does not commit any more offences.

Judge Jonathan Gibson said the case might be viewed as exceptional because of the background of threats and intimidation.

The judge said: "On the other hand this was very serious offending. This was a grave breach of trust and there was a lot of money involved.

"I might be persuaded to suspend the sentence if you are serious about paying compensation."

Joe Boyd, for Bergquist, said the defendant was trying to get out of his problems in the best way he could.

The barrister said it was inevitable Bergquist would be found out but in his twisted logic it was the only thing he could do at the time.

Mr Boyd added: "He didn't gain anything out of any of this."