A crooked accountant from Calderdale who spent staggering amounts of his employers’ cash on music CDs has failed to convince top judges his jail term was too tough.

Obsessive Riccardo Sorice, of Cliff Crescent, defrauded Bradford-based Pro Audio Systems out of £652,382.

The 60-year-old bought thousands of CDs, many of which he never even opened, London’s Appeal Court heard.

And he even told his bosses that he was in Italy when in fact he was serving an earlier prison sentence.

Sorice was employed as an accountant by the ‘small, successful business’ in 2008, Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing said.

He already had convictions for defrauding previous employers but Pro Audio knew nothing about them.

It was not until last year that his latest crimes came to light.

Sorice transferred company money to his eight different personal accounts and generated false invoices from suppliers.

He spent a ‘large amount’ of money on thousands of music CDs.

Sorice admitted fraud and was jailed for five years at Bradford Crown Court on March 14.

He had made three previous court appearances for 20 crimes, including forgery and fraud by abuse of position.

Bradford Crown Court

The judge who jailed him said he had a ‘very troubling history of dishonesty’ in the work place.

Not long after starting at Pro Audio, Sorice said he had family difficulties in Italy and had to go back to deal with them.

His employers trusted him but it was a ‘total lie’ and he was actually serving a jail term.

He was released in early 2009 and returned to work.

While he was behind bars he arranged for a letter to be sent from Italy to his bosses saying that was where he was.

It was a “sophisticated, long-running fraud,” said the judge.

A probation officer’s report said Sorice had a ‘need or urge to start stealing’ and had ‘developed an obsession with buying CDs’.

He had expressed remorse, said the report.

A psychologist’s report pointed to his compulsive personality disorder.

Graham Arnold, for Sorice, argued his jail term should have been much shorter because of his mental health issues.

He had been on ‘some sort of power-trip’ and also bought an ‘awful lot of CDs which he never appears to have opened’.

But Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing, said Sorice’s previous convictions were a ‘very substantial aggravating feature’.

“We cannot in any way say this sentence was arguably manifestly excessive,” said the judge, who was sitting with Lord Justice Davis and Judge Michael Topolski QC.

The appeal was dismissed.