A cocaine-addicted betting shop employee gave away £17,000 in free bets in order to pay off a "very big" drug debt.

Luca Bartley, 22, gave away £17,290 in fixed-odd betting slips before splitting the winnings with his friends, Croydon Crown Court heard.

On Tuesday (March 27) the court heard how Bartley, who had a £1,000 a week cocaine habit, handed out the tickets over a six month period in three different Ladbrookes bookmakers across Sutton.

Bartley, of Cressingham Grove, Sutton, told police the experience had been the "lowest part" of his life and had only resorted to stealing from his employers after he had received threats of violence from drug dealers over his debt.

Managers at the bookmakers realised the tills were down when Bartley had been working and launched an investigation.

Bartley "routinely" gave away the fixed odd bedding slips between January and June last year, with the amounts varying between £20 and £1255, the court heard.

Bartley, now a labourer with his father earning £300 a week, admitted to police what he had done and pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown court last month.

The Recorder of Croydon Warwick McKinnon ordered Bartley to repay the full amount to Ladbrookes at £100 a week.

Defence lawyer Sam Blom-Cooper told the court how "everything he (Bartley) stole, was to pay for his addiction", a plea to which Mr McKinnon gave short shrift.

The judge replied: "So what? I'm not impressed by that at all. He stole the money and blew it all on cocaine, it's a familiar story and a very serious matter."

In sentencing Bartley to a six month suspended prison sentence for two years, he said: "You have got to get your head down and get off cocaine, if you don't, there is no hope for you."