THE former general manager of a Cotswolds hotel, who stole more than £170,000 from his employers, spent the money on ''clothes, hotels and male companionship," a court heard.

AIDS victim Paul Thompson got away with his frauds for four years but was caught when he confessed all in a suicide letter to his mother, Gloucester Crown Court heard.

The 44-year-old did not go through with the death threat and was arrested as a result of his letter. He then admitted his crimes and was fully co-operative with the police, the court heard.

Thompson, of Hampden Way, Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, who ran the Lords of the Manor Hotel at Upper Slaughter until his crimes were discovered, pleaded guilty to defrauding the hotel owners, Empire Ventures Ltd, of £157,428 between June 10, 2013, and May 12, 2016.

He also admitted obtaining £15,572 by fraud from the Cotswold Finest Hotels consortium by abusing his position as its treasurer between May 2012 and May 2016.

After hearing that Thompson suffers from physical and mental illnesses, Judge Michael Harington spared him jail and let him walk free with a two year prison sentence suspended for two years.

He also ordered him to do 200 hours of unpaid work.

Thompson repaid £62,000 of the money he stole but now has no assets, the judge formally certified his total benefit from crime as £173,000.63, under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Judge Harington made a nominal confiscation order against Thompson for just £1.

However, should Thompson come into any money in the future he will be liable to repay the full amount outstanding.

The court heard Thompson's fraud against the Lords of the Manor Hotel, which has 26 rooms and a Michelin listed restaurant in a 17th century former rectory, were carried out over a three year period when he was being paid a salary of £45,000 a year.

Prosecutor Janine Wood said "On August 8 2015 a member of staff at the hotel saw him burning some paper outside the hotel.

"On August 12 the defendant reported in sick and his mother later reported to the employers that she had received a suicide note from him.

"The note contained information about his thefts from his employers and the police were informed."

Hotel bosses started checking the financial records and found Thompson had been receiving deposits for events such as weddings at the hotel but was paying the money into his personal bank account.

A court order was obtained to get access to his bank account and it was then found he had also been defrauding Cotswold Finest Hotels, a marketing and promotion group of which he was treasurer. He had paid himself for fictitious events which had never taken place.

"After being arrested he was asked what he had done with all the money and he said he had used it to pay for clothes, hotels and male companionship, " Mrs Wood said. "He admitted he had been trying to cover his tracks."

Elaine Booth, chair of Cotswold Finest Hotels, said in a statement to the court that the money Thompson stole from them was a significant proportion of their total budget.

Projects including a new website and a social media campaign had been held back because of the loss.

"He pretended to support me but he seriously let me down," she stated. "This is a very sad end to my three year tenure as chair."

Gareth Pugh, Thompson's boss at the hotel, said the financial implications of the thefts had been 'severe.'

"We have had cash flow problems. This caused us to obtain an overdraft from the bank and we also could not pay our suppliers at the time, which had a knock-on effect on our reputation."

The offence had caused stress and extra hours working to the staff and morale had been hit, he added.

Thompson was of previous good character, the prosecutor said. She told the court that sentencing guidelines suggested a jail term of between three to six years.

William Dudley, defending, handed the court letters from Thompson and his GP which he said showed the extent of his poor health.

He had HIV which had been badly managed and was becoming full blown AIDS and he also suffered from depression, ulcerative colitis and a blood clot on the lung, he said.

Prison would have a serious impact on Thompson and his condition and the likely reaction of other inmates to his AIDS would make it a 'double punishment,' he submitted.

Thompson had risen quickly to the position of general manager at the hotel but now realised he was at the time spiralling into a dark depression to the point that he was even predicting the day of his death, said Mr Dudley.

He was not thinking rationally and had become reckless because he thought his life would come to a premature end, he added.

"His offences came to light through his own disclosures, first in his own suicide note and then in a detailed document which he provided to the police."

Since his arrest he had been working with the mental health charity Mind and hopes now to get paid employment with them, Mr Dudley concluded.

Judge Harington told Thompson "This was an extremely serious breach of trust over a significant period of time.

"You are of previous good character. You confessed before anyone knew about it.

"I take into account the fact that you have very poor health. "