Former Tory councillor David Booth has avoided paying back money he stole from an employer because he is £80,000 in debt.

Booth, who now lives in Putney, admitted 10 counts of theft and one of attempted theft, totalling nearly £18,000.

A confiscation hearing at Kingston Crown Court to decide what could be seized, heard he had already paid back about £8,000 of that money.

He took the money from Howard Wright, a Chessington resident whose company Ahrem Investment was nearly bankrupted by the theft.

Booth had worked at the company for 13 years as finance director and company secretary.

Booth, who did not want to be quoted directly, said he still intended to pay Mr Wright his money back.

He said he lost the money investing in a Californian oil field and had also got divorced.

He said he was doing odd bits of work but was existing only on his pension.

Speaking at the confiscation hearing, Recorder Byrne said: "This is not a case where either party seeks to persuade the court that the defendant has a criminal lifestyle and I have to assess whether he has benefited.

"He pleaded guilty, with other matters being taken into consideration.

"I'm satisfied, and it is a matter of agreement between the parties, that the defendant has no assets to speak of, no money and he is in fact £80,000 in debt.

"I therefore set his recoverable assets as £0."

Ex-Kingston cabinet member Booth, who represented Berrylands ward until he lost his seat 18 months ago, insisted he had taken the money, over a period of 18 months, as a temporary loan to pay off other debts.

The thefts were discovered when Mr Wright finally got hold of quarterly statements which Booth had kept from him. He had been paying himself every three weeks instead of four and had taken out sums equivalent to invoices owed to other companies which, unbeknown to Mr Wright, went unpaid.

Booth was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to carry out 100 hours' community service.

A council spokesman said: "Kingston Council expects to hold an internal investigation after an ex-cabinet member was convicted of theft from an employer."