A "CON artist" who was arrested in Mallorca after stealing £115,000 from an antique dealers has been jailed for 27 months.

Oliver Trusgnach, of Carrer de Sant Miguel, Palma, Mallorca, was employed by WR Harvey & Co as a gallery manager between 2000 and 2003.

Yesterday prosecutor Alexandra Bull told a judge in Oxford Crown Court that the 40 year old almost immediately started writing himself cheques and forging the signature of managing director David Harvey.

She said a total of 77 forged cheques were paid into Trusgnach's four bank accounts and he covered his tracks by falsifying the cheque stubs and account details.

Miss Bull said his lies came to light on July 7, 2003, when he was asked to prepare a full record of all the cheques he had sent - prompting him to claim he needed to pick up some dry cleaning, before disappearing and going on the run.

Mr Harvey, who runs the antique dealers in Corn Street, said he hired private detectives to try to track Trusgnach down.

Eventually last year the conman was discovered living in Mallorca after he texted a friend in the United States, who then contacted Mr Harvey.

Speaking after the sentencing the businessman and West Oxfordshire district councillor described his former employee as "a consummate con artist" who had gone by the name Oliver von Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Mr Harvey said: "He had an excellent CV, and he came highly recommended.

"Afterwards it took us over a year to get the whole thing sorted out. It was a huge distraction.

"And it certainly impacted upon the business and it has impacted on the trust that you put in people going forward.

"It made me very angry to see him again, I'm still angry at him for what he's done, the lives he has damaged.

"It was a difficult period, but we got over it and we have moved on, but seeing him sentenced to 27 months gave us some closure."

Although Mr Harvey added that he thought earning a total of £115, 775.05 for what will end up being about 13-and-half months in prison seemed like "not a bad wage".

His partner Chrissie Curry added: "It was very, very upsetting for everyone.

"It damaged our name as a business - a number of people ended up calling up demanding money and demanding goods, because of what he did."

Trusgnach was detained under a European Arrest Warrant on July 7 last year and subsequently pleaded guilty to one count of theft and one count of forgery.

Defence advocate Mark Dixon said yesterday his client had been living a "party lifestyle" in London and had become addicted to alcohol and cocaine.

He said: "Mr Trsgnach got into a lifestyle that he couldn't fund legitimately.

"But it certainly wasn't his intention to attempt to defraud the company from the outset."

Judge Ian Pringle said the defendant had been "a very trusted person who had the confidence of his employer, no doubt because of how he portrayed himself".

He told Trusgnach: "From the very start you were abusing the position of trust you held within the company.

"Behaving as if you were some form of aristocracy, your life became increasingly out of control."

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