A Jewish employee at a building material export company in Manchester has been sentenced to six months in prison for fraud.

Dov Hanson's sentence was suspended for 12 months and he was also prohibited from buying or trading in any building materials in the UK for six months after pleading guilty in Manchester Crown Court on Monday.

Hanson, 27, of Prestwich, pleaded guilty to abusing his position as an employee at Sundream Enterprises.

In his role as purchaser, he was supposed to approach companies with surplus supplies to purchase their goods and sell them to companies outside the EU. But he approached tile manufacturer, Pilkington Tiles, claiming he had left Sundream, despite still being an employee, and claimed he was working for a rival company, South Africa-based Renoir. Renoir then purchased 10 containers of tiles from Pilkington to the value of £6,000.

The court heard he had also approached another company, bathroom equipment suppliers Ideal Standard, and again said he was working for Renoir, and began negotiating a £500,000 purchase, although Renoir did not go through with the purchase.

In his defence, Hanson said after he left Sundream on the grounds of ill health in October 2007, he had been offered a job by Renoir as a reward for bringing business their way.

He also said he left Renoir in 2008 so the business did not amount to a huge reward for him in the end.