A FORMER barman who transferred more than £700 from a pub's till into his own bank account has been ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work and to repay the pub landlady he stole the money from.

Michael Peary, 29, who used to live on Nelson Street in Millom but has since moved to Barrow, pleaded guilty to stealing £742.25 from The Black Cock Inn in Broughton when he worked there as an employee.

Mr Lee Dacre, prosecuting, said that between January and March earlier this year, Peary refunded himself hundreds of pounds on several occasions by using the till's card machine.

Stacey Webber, landlady of the pub, didn't spot the fraudulent activity until the sixth transaction had been completed.

She then called her bank to query the payments that had been made, which led to Peary being caught.

Peary, who had never been in trouble with the police before and has no previous convictions, was fined a total of £887.25 and given a community order by Furness Magistrates' Court.

Miss Karen Templeton, defending, said: "This is something that he is absolutely ashamed of and he admits it was a stupid thing to do. He does not know why he did it, he had no debts to pay off and he was not planning to spend it on anything particularly lavish.

"He is 29 and has never been before the court or received any caution. In some ways he has punished himself because he now has a conviction for theft which will hinder him finding future employment. He really has no explanation as to why he has done this."