A former junior office clerk for an insolvency firm in Walsall stole more than £6,000 by cashing in company cheques that he had written out himself, a court heard.

Thomas Thornton stole the money from Griffin and King, where he had worked for seven years, Walsall Magistrates Court was told.

Mrs Maggie Meakin, prosecuting yesterday, said the 25-year-old forged signatures on six cheques amounting to £6,351.57 between November 10 last year and January 3.

A suspicious transaction noted by staff earlier this month sparked an investigation at the Goodall Street firm and it was discovered Thornton had written a cheque for £850.

He was confronted by the managing director and handed in his resignation. It was later found that Thornton, of Little Sutton Lane, Sutton Coldfield, had written a further five cheques, all of which had cleared.

The court heard that a seventh cheque for £1,200 was stopped on the day of Thornton’s resignation.

Mrs Meakin said: “One of his duties was to prepare the reconciliation of bank statements for checking by a senior clearance manager.

“On January 4 they found a suspicious transaction. They discovered Thornton wrote a cheque for £850.  A further five cheques had been written and cleared. One for a further value of £1,200 was also written but it was stopped by the company on the day of his resignation.”

Mrs Meakin added: “He said he forged the signatures for financial gain. He was in financial difficulties due to ‘pay day’ loan companies.”

Represented by Mr David Grice, Thornton  admitted theft.

District Judge Michael Morris committed the case to Wolverhampton Crown Court,  deeming it too serious for himself to pass sentence on.

He told Thornton: “It is a severe breach of trust and an amount of over £6,000. I view my powers as insufficient.”

Thornton is due to be sentenced on February 23 and was given conditional bail until the hearing.