Tim Power, 43, flouted strict City of London rules by leaking sensitive information about the 1997 sale of the restaurant chain where he was the operations manager, Southwark Crown Court was told.

He was given an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, after the judge decided that because of "exceptional circumstances", Power should be spared jail, the Press Association reported.

The court heard that Power was caught after a lover of his wife Chantal Brenninkmeyer, an heiress to the Dutch dynasty behind the C&A store chain, "blew the whistle".

Government investigators then launched a lengthy probe and secretly recorded some of Power's conversations.

Former barman Power pleaded guilty to insider training after prosecutors were allowed to use the recorded transcripts in their case.

Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse said his first offence was revealing details that Lonsdale Holdings was to take over Belgo for 9.8 million pounds, sending Lonsdale's shares up.

A few months later he disclosed that Belgo had decided to take over three London restaurants: Daphne; The Collection and Pasha, sending Belgo's share value higher.

"The offences ... are serious because they are a grave breach of trust by someone at the centre of a company which is going to cause sensitive movement on the Stock Exchange," said judge James Wadsworth.

He said the offence would usually warrant a prison sentence, but suspended the jail term because it was 11 years since the crimes were committed and the government had allowed its inquiry to remain "fallow" for three years.

"I think there are in your case a number of factors which are exceptional," the judge said.

Power's lawyer Jonathan Goldring said his client, once a multi-millionaire, was no longer the man he was in 1997 when he was part of a "culture of partying and a lot of international travel".

"He socialised in very wealthy circles but was never himself in the financial Ivy League," he said. "Now he is broken, he is single, he is unemployable and he is a convicted criminal."

He read a statement from Power, who has two previous criminal convictions -- for failing to register a personalised number plate and for theft and obtaining money by deception -- in which he said it had been a difficult time for him.

"I discovered my wife of eight years was cheating on me. My life was thrown into absolute turmoil," the statement said.

"I was deeply hurt and, as a consequence, I began acting recklessly without thinking things through."