A relief pub manager stole more than £5,000 to fund his addiction to gambling on fruit machines.

Stuart Maddison, 28, admitted taking more than £2,000 from two different pubs after he took over as relief manager while the owners were on holiday.

He was jailed for nine months yesterday at Newcastle Crown Court after admitting the thefts.

He took over as relief manager at the Leamside Hotel, Durham, in autumn last year, but went on to steal £2,060 from the business.

After moving to the Chester Moor pub, Chester-le-Street, Maddison took a further £2,500, including deposits left for Christmas functions.

The court heard that Maddison's gambling addiction to one-armed bandits had got the better of him, but that he was receiving treatment.

He pleaded guilty to three charges of theft, one of false accounting, and another of perverting the course of justice after he falsely reported that he had been the subject of an armed robbery.

Sentencing him, Judge Esmond Faulks said: "The picture I have of you is that you are otherwise a hardworking, decent man who was caught in the grip of a gambling addiction. Notwithstanding that, this was a gross breach of trust involving in excess of £5,000. Only a custodial sentence is therefore appropriate."

The court heard that Maddison, of Allington Place, Gilesgate, Durham, has paid back all but £400 of the money he stole.

He was given a six-month sentence for the thefts and false accounting, and a nine-month concurrent sentence for perverting the course of justice.