A British security man who was paid to empty parking meters but filled his own pockets instead was sentenced Friday to 21 months in prison.

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Bryn Lynas, 47, pleaded guilty to stealing almost $261,000 from the parking meters he was supposed to be collecting funds from, The (London) Daily Mail reported.

The meter man confessed to participating in money laundering while serving as a city employee in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland.

During Lynas' trial, attorney David Lamb attempted to downplay the crime by citing how guilt drove the defendant to throw away some of his ill-gotten gains.

"The bizarre point is the use to which some of the money was put," Lamb told the newspaper. "He threw at least some of that money away because he felt guilty."

Lynas used some of the loot to buy three cars for himself and his partner -- along with a sticker for his car window emblazoned with a single word: "cool."