A BOOKIE who stole more than £10,000 from his company has been sentenced at Chester Crown Court.
Mark Williams, aged 41, of Martin Close, in Palace Fields, Runcorn, was given a 180-hour community punishment order on Monday.
He was the manager of M Cook bookmakers shop in Blacon, Chester.
He had pleaded guilty to stealing the money between September and December 2004, before Chester and Ellesmere Port magistrates court.
The magistrates had heard Williams, a single father of two teenage girls, had stolen the money to solve debt problems.
They were told Williams had made a full written confession after being wracked by guilt.
A proceeds of crime hearing of crime will also now be held.
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