A DEBT collector stole more than £2,000 to pay off drug debts to criminals, a court has heard.

Gareth Roberts stole the money from Shopachecks within two weeks of joining the company.

He joined the firm last year, and when he handed in the cash he collected to the post office, he added to the counter foils to try and disguise the amounts he was taking for himself.

Roberts, aged 36 and of Gaunt Way, Hallwood Park stole £2,217 before suspicious Shopachecks staff phoned their Widnes branch and he was caught.

Judge Nicholas Woodward said: "He obtained this job with the aim of stealing money."

He acknowledged that Roberts had stolen the money to pay off debts but said "that does not amount to mitigation".

But he said Roberts was only using drugs due to the tragic death of one of his children, and that Roberts still had five other children to look after.

Roberts pleaded guilty to two counts each of theft and fraudulent accounting in January, and was sentenced to a 100 hour Community Punishment and Rehabilitation Order at Warrington Crown Court on Monday.