JUST three months after being released from jail for stealing more than £600,000 from an employer, a man lied to get a job with Greenhalgh's Bakery.

Edward Alan Bowe, aged 48, of Turner Bridge Road, Tonge Moor, was employed by the bakery to collect cash from shops they supplied.

But instead of handing over the money to his bosses, on three occasions he pocketed a total of £472.39.

Bolton Crown Court heard how former accountant Bowe, who lives with his partner and two children, was sentenced to four years in prison in May 2003 by Liverpool Crown Court for stealing £619,894, from his then employers, a vehicle financing company.

On April 22, 2005, he was released from jail on licence, and within weeks had applied for a job with Greenhalgh's Bakery. But on his application form he claimed he had no criminal convictions, and the following week he began work.

Greenhalgh's subsequently discovered he was stealing from them and called the police.

He was given bail, but then twice in October last year he walked out of ASDA with trolleys laden with goods he had not paid for.

Magistrates then sentenced him to a total of 210 hours community work for the supermarket thefts.

Iain Simkin, defending, said that Bowe, who pleaded guilty to obtaining advantage by deception and three counts of theft, when he appeared before Bolton Crown Court, has never received any help to stop his dishonesty.

His Honour Judge Warnock decided to defer sentencing Bowe until September 26.

"I'm giving you an opportunity to keep yourself on the straight and narrow," Judge Warnock told Bowe.