​A commended RAC patrolman cheated the organisation out of £9,000 as an act of revenge because he was bitter about the way they treated him, a court was told.

Dad-of-four Gary Finch, 47, of Longlevens, used his RAC credit card to buy goods from Halfords after he left the motoring organisation under a cloud.

Finch was bitterly disappointed at the way the RAC dealt with him after he suffered an injury which led to eight months sick leave, Gloucester Crown Court heard.

Finch admitted six charges of fraud by false representation.

He asked for a further 42 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

Judge William Hart told Finch he had carried out an act of revenge on the RAC rather than thefts for personal gain.

He sentenced him to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, on each of the six charges. He was also ordered to do 140 hours’ unpaid work and pay £150 prosecution costs.

Julian Kesner, prosecuting, said Finch had falsely used the RAC company credit card at Halford’s when he was still employed by the RAC from April 2008 until September 2008 when he left.

When he left the RAC, he told his line manager: “I lost it ages ago”.

But Finch still had the card and continued to use it until September 2009 on a £9,057 spending spree, Mr Kesner said.

Rosie Walsh, for Finch, said her client had previously been a hard-working and law-abiding citizen.

She said it was regrettable the breakdown in relationship with his employer led to such emotion in Finch that he acted the way he did. She said his use of the credit card had become “addictive”.

Ms Walsh said Finch had put his heart and soul into his work, and had worked on his rest days during the floods in 2007 to help motorists who were stranded. He had been commended by the RAC on several occasions.