A GAMBLING addict stole from a friend and his employer to pay off his debts, a court was told.
Thomas Masters had fallen into debt because of his gambling, despite winning £70,000 in an online game.
He was staying with a friend in Portland Square, Radford, but twice claimed the flat had been broken into, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
He took an iPhone 3GS, iPod Classic music player and £90 and deliberately left a window open at the flat, then sold his friend's gadgets at Cash Generator.
And he said nothing when his devastated friend called the police and spoke to officers at the flat.
The burglaries left his friend so upset and paranoid he handed his notice in on the flat, Nottingham Crown Court heard. Masters then staged his third crime at Yates's Wine Lodge, in Nottingham city centre, after getting a job there as a deputy manager on February 25. He stole £2,215, removed CCTV units worth £1,261 and caused damage that required £4,000 of repairs, the court was told.
He gambled the money from the pub that night, before returning and making it look like a burglary in the early hours, using a hammer and screwdriver to cause damage.
He damaged the push bar on a rear fire door and kicked in the office door and broke into the safe and ripped off its digital lock.
Then he went to the bar, had a stiff drink and a cigarette and left wearing slightly different clothes.
He dumped the CCTV in a bin in Upper Parliament Street, Nottingham, on March 6.
Masters admitted what he had done to police and a manager the next day, after it became clear his alarm code was used to get in.
At court, he admitted two burglaries at his friend's flat and theft and criminal damage at the pub.
The 26-year-old, of St Stephen's Road, Sneinton, was sentenced to two years in prison.
The judge, Recorder Tina Landale, told him: "You set about two very separate mean offences, knowing the devastation caused by the first burglary, you callously committed a second."
She said the offences at Yates's were a "breach of trust" and showed callous disregard for the business.
Defence barrister Harry Bowyer said Masters was voluntarily attending Gamblers Anonymous and was "acutely aware" of the misery he had caused to his friend.
"In 2010 he won £70,000 on an online game but it was lost paying friends and buying gifts," he said.
"He got into debt again. In 2011 he came out to his family about his debt.
"They consolidated his debts for him and took out £18,000 loans which he tried to pay back.
"It should have been a wake-up call for him."