AN Oxford Bus Company employee who scammed the firm out of almost £750,000 has been given his final date at court to recover the ill-gotten gains.

Colin Smart, of Crundel Rise, Witney, had already admitted stealing the money from the city bus company between April 2011 and March 2017 to fund his 'out of control' gambling addiction.

Oxford Crown Court heard at his sentencing hearing in February how the 47-year old had used his position as an accounts employee to pinch the vast haul of money totalling £733,737.

Smart was jailed for four years, made up of a four-year sentence for converting criminal property, eight months for one count of fraud by false representation, and two years for a single count of theft, all to run concurrently.

He did not attend the brief hearing at the same court yesterday in which a court judge agreed the final timetable for a proceeds of crime hearing to recover the stolen cash.

Previously, the court had heard that Smart, an employee for 28 years at the bus firm, had used some of the money he stole to buy an Audi R8 valued at £89,332 as well as a Ford Mondeo which cost him £18,150.

He went on to spend £132,661,71 paying off the mortgage on his Witney home.

Smart was finally rumbled for the six-year scam, the court heard, after money transfer company Paypal contacted the bus firm to flag up suspicious activity on its books, which saw the launch of a company investigation.

During the sentencing hearing Judge Roger Chapple, said: "You were a trusted member of the accounts team.

"You systematically and repeatedly abused that trust that had been placed on you. The repercussions of your dishonesty have and will be felt by not only shareholders but the fare paying passengers of Oxford."

The hour-long hearing will be held at the same court on October 11.