Deputy manager at Boston store took almost £13,000 from his employers to fund gambling addiction

A BOSTON store manager responsible for cashing up tills at the end of the day, stole almost £13,000 from his employers to fund his gambling addiction, a court has been told.
Man stole to fund gambling addiction, court is toldMan stole to fund gambling addiction, court is told
Man stole to fund gambling addiction, court is told

Boston Magistrates heard that Ashley English, 30, of Whitehorse Lane, was the deputy manager of the Boston branch of Brighthouse, the UK's largest weekly payment retailer, in Wide Bargate.

English, who admitted stealing £12,975 between January 19 and February 16 last year, had been the deputy store manager for the previous three years, said Jim Clare, prosecuting.

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He said one of his duties was to cash up the tills at the end of every day, put the money into cash bags, seal them and hand them to a courier.

However, between these dates he had taken the paper money out of the bags and spent it on on-line gambling websites and also in betting shops and had paid some into his bank account.

Mr Clare said English owed money on credit cards and to family members.

He said that a few days after stealing the money, English told his store manager what he had done and also admitted he had done it before but had been able to win back enough money to pay it back.

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Mark Hudson, mitigating, said English, who had no previous convictions was, at the time, spending all his money on gambling and, for three weeks, took £13,000 from his company, although some cash was found in the bags.

He said that eventually, English could no longer take the pressure and told his manager and also went to the police to tell them what he had done.

He said English had lost everything – 'his partner, his accommodation and his job' – but has since received counselling for his addiction and been able to find new accommodation and had obtained two jobs.

He said English did tell his manager about his earlier thefts at the time and had asked him to take the safe key from him but his manager had refused as he had repaid the money.

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The magistrates said there was a 'high degree of trust' in English's job and that this 'responsibility had been breached'.

They ruled that he should go to Lincoln Crown Court to be sentenced on a date to be notified and he was allowed unconditional bail.