A MANAGER faces prison after stealing more than £10,000 from the betting shop he worked in.
Single parent-of-two, Mark Williams, took £1,800 from M.Cook bookmakers in Chester to pay for a family holiday in Cyprus.
And he then gambled away more than £8,000 of the shop's money in a desperate bid to return the cash.
Williams, 41, admitted one charge of theft of £10,188.16 between September 1 and December 8 last year.
Chester and Ellesmere Port magistrates heard how he earned between £300 and £350 a week, and had faced financial difficulties last summer.
Williams, who looks after two teenage daughters and a twoyear-old granddaughter, had a commitment to pay for a week's holiday in Cyprus, arranged to celebrate his eldest daughter's 18th birthday.
He was also looking to take up an option to buy his home in Martin Close, Palacefields, Runcorn.
Williams had initially asked the company for a £1,800 advance on future wages.
But when it became apparent he would not receive a quick answer he helped himself to cash from the safe.
Bernard Byrne, prosecuting, said checks showed that takings of £5,456 had not been paid into the bank on November 30.
On December 8, the shop's books recorded that takings of £4,731.86 had been paid in.
But the bank had no knowledge of the transaction.
Kerry Evans, defending, said Williams had worked himself up to the position of manager in less than two years since starting work as a cashier.
She said he had no previous convictions and had intended to repay the money.
Ms Evans told how Williams resorted to placing bets on the horses to raise the funds. She said: 'He was placing numerous bets throughout the day and losing more than he won.'
'The more he lost the more he felt he needed to stake because the debt was getting bigger.
'He himself describes these as the worst weeks of his life.'
On December 8, Williams left the premises for the last time before writing a letter of confession to his employers.
He was prescribed anti-depressants by his GP, who said he had suffered a breakdown.
Presiding Magistrate Elizabeth Michie, committed the case to Chester Crown Court, deciding the offence was so serious her bench's sentencing powers of six months were insufficient.
