Matthew Farrimond, 41, admitted 12 counts of fraud and one offence of money laundering while holding a senior role at a construction firm near Manchester.

Besides the expensive kittens, he booked holidays abroad and put down a deposit on a house.

PC Kate Riley of GMP’s economic crime section said: “Farrimond’s role was to safeguard the financial interests of the company he worked for, but he was the biggest threat to their hard-earned funds.”