Gambling addict robbed bookmakers he worked at

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by Change | 31 Aug 2010

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A Hartlepool man robbed over £3,000 from the bookmakers he worked at to fund his gambling addiction.

The plight faced by those suffering from a gambling addiction has been highlighted by a Hartlepool man who staged a burglary from a bookmakers' safe.

Twenty-year-old Michael Heath deactivated the alarm on the safe at the betting shop he worked at before stealing more than £3,000 in cash, the Hartlepool Mail reports.

He robbed the money in order to fund his gambling debts. Over a period of two years, he spent approximately £1,000 in company credit on his addiction.

Prosecuting, Alan Davison said that police recovered £3,240 from Mr Heath's home and that the defendant had spoken "honestly and graphically" during an interview with police.

"Against company policy, he gambled £1,000 in the shop, lost it, but knowing he couldn't afford to pay it back himself, woke in the early hours, drove to the shop and used his code to deactivate the alarm," he told the newspaper.

"He took money from the safe, discarded the clothing he was wearing and went back to bed. He admitted he had lost £1,000 of company credit."

Earlier this summer, cambridge-news.co.uk reported that gambling addict Aaron Byrne had been jailed after he stole in excess of £10,000 from the bookmakers where he was employed.

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