Bookmaker made up £3,000 robbery

A bookmaker claimed he had been robbed after losing thousands of pounds on a gaming machine at work, a court heard.

Charlie Ross, 24, stole £3,657 of tokens, and lost them gambling, in Joe Jennings, in Bishop's Stortford, Herts.

Ross, of Higg View Cottages, Great Dunmow, Essex, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and fraud at St Albans Crown Court.

He received a three-month jail term, suspended for a year, and was ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work.

The assistant manager must also abide by a curfew between 2100 GMT and 0700 GMT for three months and pay £1,200 compensation to the bookmakers.

Admitted dishonesty

Ross lost all of the credit tokens within an hour-and-a-half on 3 May.

David Chrimes, prosecuting, said: "He did not win any money and could not pay for the credit he had used. In panic he decided to report to the police that he had been robbed."

Ross later told detectives he had been robbed of £3,000 worth of credit by two black men.

But Ross later admitted he was responsible for the loss when he was interviewed by his boss. He then voluntarily went to the police and admitted his dishonesty.

Jamie Sawyer, mitigating, said Ross had made an agreement to repay Jennings.