A CROOK who plundered almost £20,000 from a car dealership he was given the chance to run has been ordered to pay back less than a day’s wages.

Hugh Lyall, of The Street, Castle Eaton, was told by a court to repay just £78.01 despite having created “a tissue of false accounting and a web of deceit.”

The former publican, 41, stole £19,500 when he ran Chippenham Motor Company’s satellite showroom and office in Lyneham.

But a court ordered he repay less than half of one per cent of what he took under the Proceeds Of Crime Act, despite a judge in January being told he had a new job paying £38,000 a year.

Imposing the suspended sentence at the time Judge Douglas Field said to him: “You have a good and well paid job. If I send you into custody you lose that.

“That fruits of that job go to support your family and will be able to provide compensation to your former employer.”

Now, almost four months later, the thief has been told to cough up an amount which would be less than a day’s pay at the job.

He was told if he did not pay the cash, which is 0.4 per cent of what he took, within 28 days he would face a week behind bars.

Earlier this year Swindon Crown Court was told that Lyall now had a job working at Vines BMW dealership in Redhill, Surrey.

He was sentenced after admitting four counts of theft and four of false accounting.

After bosses gave him the chance to run the firm’s Lyneham office he repeatedly stole from the company.

As well as pocketing cash he also falsified documents to make it look as if deals had been done at lower prices, so he could keep the balance.

The court was told at the time of the offending he had borrowed from loan sharks to keep his daughter in private education and provide for his family.

Having worked his way up in his chosen career in the past he at one point worked for a national company with a £20m-a-year turnover.

However, after starting his own business and also buying a pub he lost everything, leading to him getting the job with Chippenham Motor Company.

Lyall was given a 12-month jail term, suspended for a year and told to carry out 250 hours of community service when he attended the hearing in January.

Chris Andrews, a customer advisor at the BMW branch, said yesterday: “He doesn’t work here any more. He left the company a good couple of months ago.”

Lyall’s mother Melody, who runs the Red Lion pub in Castle Eaton, declined to comment when contacted by the Adver.

Having lost his own business and pub following a high-flying career, Chippenham Motor Company represented a chance for Hugh Lyall to transform his fortunes.

But he repaid his employers Jackie and Adam Bailey by lining his own pocket.

Lyall’s deceit included selling a Ford Focus on eBay as a private transaction, even though it was a garage deal, for £9,700 in November 2008. He created a false document showing it had been sold for £12,000.

Lyall also produced paperwork for a BMW and VW Passat which had never been bought by the company.

In January 2009, he stole £9,500 from the sales of a Toyota RAV4 and a Honda Civic.

He took a further £650 at the end of the month from the sale of a Ford Escort.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court at an earlier hearing: “He was given the chance, at his behest, to take on the Lyneham office and turn it around.

“This it appeared he had done, but he had created a tissue of false accounting and web of deceit to disguise fairly serious plundering of the company.”

Though the loss was calculated at £19,650, Lyall left behind a mess of paperwork and vehicles with inadequate paperwork.

Mrs Bailey declined to comment yesterday saying it was “a private matter between us and a former employee.”