BARMAN Michael Martin gave free drinks to his friends and helped himself to bar snacks and cash from the pub till to play fruit machines, magistrates in Devizes heard on Tuesday.

Martin, 21, of Rawlins Road, Pewsey, pleaded guilty to stealing £270 from Lesley Palmer, the landlady of the town's Greyhound Inn, between August last year and January this year, when he appeared before magistrates.

Martin was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £270 compensation and £55 court costs.

Marion Langford, prosecuting, told the court Martin had been taken on as a bar attendant last August and almost immediately Mrs Palmer had noticed discrepancies in till receipts she had never experienced before.

On January 12 Mrs Palmer found 20 "no sales" rung up on the till. She installed a CCTV camera and saw on video Martin ringing up a "no sale" but carrying out a transaction.

In a police interview, Martin admitted giving drinks away to friends, helping himself to bar snacks and taking money from the till to play on the fruit machines.

But he denied Mrs Palmer's claim that the value of his pilfering was £500, although he accepted a figure of £270.

Stephen Clifford, defending, said although he conceded his client's offence involved a breach of trust, he was not employed in a managerial role and had made no attempt to hide his actions.