A GWBERT bar man stole more than £6,000 from his employer to fuel his gambling habit, a court has heard.

Rhys William Beard, aged 23, of Rhoshill, Boncath, appeared before Aberystwyth magistrates on Wednesday.

He pleaded guilty to stealing £6,156.37 from The Gwbert Hotel, between October 31, 2014 and February 1, 2015.

Ellie Morgan, prosecuting, told the court that Beard’s duties as a bar man at the Flat Rock and Gwbert Hotel included cashing up at the end of the night, and he had access to the PDQ card payment machine.

Wells Jones, director of Anchor Hotel, Gwbert Ltd, was alerted to the theft when he received a call from his bank, stating a card had been used to receive refunds from the till on numerous occasions.

Transactions amounting to £6,156.37 had been made to the same card over three months. The refunds were made at the end of the day, and did not show up until the following shift.

Mr Jones found that Beard had been the last person on the premises on the dates given, and Beard admitted he had made the refunds when questioned.

Miss Morgan said: “He was in a position of a high degree of trust, and was also responsible at the end of the day when he was the only person left on site.”

Beard told police he had used the money to gamble, and visited online gambling sites to make up to 50 transactions in a day. He added that he was ‘devastated and gutted’ following his arrest.

Stephen Welch, defending, said his client was suffering from a gambling addiction.

He said: “He had benefited from a large gambling win before the theft and became addicted.”

The court heard that a payment plan had now been set up to repay the hotel, with Beard’s parents as guarantors.

Mr Welch added: “It’s a matter where he was bound to be caught. The transactions were to his card.”

Magistrates warned Beard that the offence had crossed the custody threshold

Sentencing was adjourned for a week, and a pre-sentence report was requested from the probation service.

Beard was released on unconditional bail until May 27.