A trainee accountant defrauded his company out of £58,000 to fund extravagant purchases including a mortgage and a BMW car.
Jake Currie, from Stockport, 'abused his position of trust' at NUCO Travel to make 22 transactions into his account over a period of six months.
The 26-year-old 'drank' and 'frittered away' the rest of the money, a court heard.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard that Currie, of Brookfield Close, started his £22,000 a year job in 2017.
After six months he was familiar with the system and was 'left to his own devices', Andrew Mackintosh, prosecuting said. But in March 2018, he took a 'large amount of sick leave', before announcing he would be taking a holiday to Canada.
'The firm decided that he would be dismissed', Mr Mackintosh said.
A new accountant was hired, and noticed a number of 'discrepancies involving a number of payments in the system...a number of payments paid to three accounts belonging to the defendant'.
A manager at the company emailed Currie to say he would be contacting the police in December 2018.
In a victim impact read to the court by Mr Mackintosh, the financial director of the company said: "I feel he has taken advantage of myself and abused my trust."
In mitigation, Howard Bernstein said the defendant had mental health issues.
He said: “He was going through an extremely difficult period of his life. It impacted the way he acted.
"It was out of character. He dealt very badly with the death of his grandparents. His grandfather was like a father figure and it gave his a sense of despondency. It resulted in him giving up and committing this offence."
Since the offence, he has 'turned his life around', he said.
He is working again and is on medication for his mental health issues, he said.
Sentencing, Judge Bernadette Baxter said: "You made 22 transactions over a six month period of £58,000.
"You did it in a state of mind where you felt sorry for yourself. You were spending the money on frivolous things, £9,000 on a mortgage and £10,000 payment towards a car.
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"You have then drank and frittered away the rest of the money. I accept your behaviour was out of character for you."
The 26-year-old was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years.
He was also sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work and a five days rehabilitation activity requirement after pleading guilty to one count of fraud and two counts of transferring criminal property.
