A solicitor has been jailed for taking thousands of pounds from clients.

Peter Mason, 44, was reported by his wife after problems were spotted in a number of accounts, Hove Crown Court was told.

The court heard he had set up his own practice, Mason's Solicitors, in Frederick Terrace, Brighton, in 1997.

Stephen Shay, prosecuting, said Mason had taken on a debt to the Inland Revenue of £115,737.57 from a previous practice.

When threatened with bankruptcy, Mason had taken the money from clients' accounts.

He "robbed Peter to pay Paul" by transferring money between accounts to hide the shortfall.

Mr Shay said the problem was spotted by an employee and then Eileen Mason, a partner in the practice, reported it.

The minimum amount missing was £181,678.57 but it could be as high as £300,000.

Mason, from Helstone, Cornwall, pleaded guilty to one charge of theft of £115,737.57 and 12 counts of false accounting between October 1997 and November 1999.

Pierce Power, defending, said: "He was not living an excessive and extravagant lifestyle on the back of other people's misery."

Mrs Mason, married to Mason for nearly 20 years, told the court: "Peter is very kind to other people. He always put other people before himself."

She said he was particularly concerned about his employees' welfare and felt a strong sense of responsibility to them and his family. She said he had been struck off and declared bankrupt and there had been a question mark over their home.

Judge Anthony Scott-Gall described the events as "a tragedy".

He told the father of three: "I accept entirely that these offences were out of character, that you will never offend again and that you did feel genuine remorse for what you did."

Mason was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment on each charge, to run concurrently. Half the sentence will be suspended.