An executive with the supermarket giant Morrisons has been jailed for 12 months for a £203,000 insider trading crime . Paul Coyle , 50 , profited from dealing in his company ’ s shares around the time of a £216m deal with the online retailer Ocado which sent share values soaring . Using the name of his partner he bought Morrisons shares before the lucrative tie-up was made public and sold them for a profit the day after it was announced . Paul Coyle , 50 , has been jailed for a year after he used his inside knowledge at Morrisons to personally profit in shares . Coyle was the supermarket ’ s group treasurer and head of tax and was ‘ at the heart ’ of talks with Ocado over the development of their online business . He illegally used his inside knowledge for personal profit . The series of deals – in the name of 28-year-old Emma Baker – made a profit of £79,431 . However , the total ‘ benefit ’ from his crime which he must repay was put at £203,234 . This was comprised of the value of shares bought and profits from the deals . He faces a further two-and-a-half years behind bars if the money is not repaid within two months , Leeds Crown Court was told . Coyle , of Harrogate , North Yorkshire , admitted two charges of insider dealing and was also ordered to pay £15,000 costs . Mr Justice Globe said while he accepted his remorse was genuine , his offending was so serious there had to be an immediate jail term . ‘ You came into possession of that information by your senior position within the organisation . Your breach of trust was significant , ’ he said . ‘ Whatever your real motivation was , your actions were deliberate and in my judgment dishonest . You knew at the time what you were doing was illegal . Your actions continued over a three month period and involved a number of individual trades. ’ The judge told him : ‘ insider dealing is not a victimless crime , harm has been caused by your actions , it has an impact on the overall public confidence in the integrity of the market. ’ Coyle , a former Inland Revenue inspector , was a senior and trusted member of the Morrisons executive team . Laura Mackinnon , prosecuting , said he signed documents indicating he was aware of the restrictions imposed by his ‘ insider ’ status . He initially made a £8,000 profit by buying company shares before the March 2013 announcement that discussions were being held with Ocado and selling them the day after . He bought around the time of a £216m deal between Morrisons and the online retailer Ocado which sent share values soaring and sold the day after it was announced . The father-of-four continued to abuse his position by buying and selling a further 100,000 shares as the company share price fluctuated amid market speculation . During that period he banked a further £11,000 . Then in May , after an official announcement was made that the two firms had reached a formal agreement , he sold the rest of his shares making £60,000 . Neil Hawes , QC , defending , said Coyle had not touched the money he had made . He said his client had been under stress in his job as senior staff were ‘ fire- fighting ’ issues in the company . ‘ He accepts he had a senior and important role at Morrison , he was in the confidence of senior management , privy to confidential material and trusted. ’ Coyle lost his job and has not worked since . A spokesman for Morrisons said they were ‘ pleased ’ the Financial Conduct Authority investigation ‘ did not raise wider concerns for the company. ’ ‘ While this was a regrettable case of an individual acting alone we are pleased that our governance and processes were sufficiently robust to enable the authorities to achieve a successful prosecution . ’
Paul Coyle , 50 , illegally used his partner 's name to profit from shares deals . He bought around the time of a £216million deal with online retailer Ocado . Former head of tax then sold the day after lucrative deal was announced . Coyle made a profit of £79,431 but total repayable 'benefit ' put at £79,431 . He faces further two-and-a-half years in jail if it is not repaid in two months .