A fraudster who stole nearly £3 million from a City firm and then frittered away cash on gambling and a Thai bride has been jailed for four years for the "appalling breach of trust".

Between between 2007 and 2013, payroll administrator Dennis Harold, 60, swindled Devonshire Appointments by inventing temporary staff and paying wages into more than 20 bank accounts in false company names.

Harold, who had worked for the London-based recruitment company for 14 years, then squandered an estimated £1.2 million on gambling, taxis, an "expensive divorce" and sending money to Thailand where he had a fiancee or wife, the court was told.

His co-defendant Shamsur Rahman, 38, worked with Harold and discovered the scam in 2008, the Old Bailey was told.

But rather than report it to company bosses, he demanded a cut of the ill-gotten gains and pocketed £1.1 million.

After he was made redundant, Rahman, who is originally from Bangladesh, continued asking Harold for money from the fraud, prosecutor James Norman said.

The court heard the married father-of-three was motivated by "pure greed" and used the money to put £300,000 towards a £600,000 house, buy a luxury £54,000 car and jewellery for his wife.

When his home was searched by police, they also found £120,000 in cash stuffed in a ruck sack, a bag and a jacket pocket.

The £2.9 million fraud was finally exposed in 2013 when an audit uncovered a small accounting discrepancy, Mr Norman said.

Harold initially tried to cover up it up by presenting auditors with false documents but when that failed, he confessed to his bosses.

At earlier court hearings, Harold, of Dagenham, Essex, admitted fraud by abuse of position and Rahman, of Enfield, north London, pleaded guilty to acquiring criminal property - which he has pledged to pay back.

Sentencing them both to four years in jail, Recorder Michael Wood, QC said: "This was an appalling breach of trust by both of you. You, Mr Harold, were employed as a payroll administrator who was trained to use the computer system. You created false temporary staff to disguise payments to accounts controlled by you.

"In excess of 20 accounts were created and nearly £3 million was taken from the fraud. It went on for six years and I have no doubt it would have continued but for an audit carried out and the fraud discovered."

To Harold, he said: "I accept you showed great remorse, It's hard to imagine a worse abuse of trust. You squandered your £1.2 million in casinos and taxis and as I understand it you have nothing to show for it."

Addressing his co-defendant Rahman, the judge said: "Your motivation was pure greed."

Following the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fyfe, who led the investigation for the City of London Police, said: "Dennis Harold gave years of service to Devonshire before deciding to go down a path that led him to committing a multimillion-pound fraud and theft, manipulating the company payroll and creating false temporary staff so he could filter off company cash into his own accounts.

"After discovering what had been going on, Shamsur Rahman should have blown Harold's cover but instead decided to blackmail his colleague into handing out a cut of the proceeds of crime. Ultimately they are as bad as each other, which is reflected in the fact they have both been sentenced to four years behind bars."