Christian Dickinson-Phillips was jailed for 16 months earlier this year after he admitted stealing £25,000 from the Qwackers Day Nursery, a registered charity, between January 2002 and June 2006.

Dickinson-Phillips, 40, of Hamilton Road, also admitted false accounting by inputting false information onto accounts forms.

At a hearing before Lincoln Crown Court on Monday, Judge Ebrahim Mooncey ruled Dickinson-Phillips had gained benefit of £25,000 from his crime and ordered him to hand over his available assets of £14,153 as compensation to the nursery.

The money is Dickinson-Phillips' half share of the equity in his matrimonial home. Dickinson-Phillips was given six months to pay or face a further jail sentence in default.

His earliest release date is the end of May, when he could be allowed free on tagging.

Dickinson-Phillips' lawyer David Eager told the court: "The defendant is in custody and is going to find it difficult to raise this amount.

"He hopes to be released on tagging and hopes then to be able to raise a loan. The alternative is that his wife will have to sell the home and move elsewhere."

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