Two budget shop workers who tried to stretch the day’s takings by gambling it on a roulette table resigned on the spot after losing the lot.

“Grossly stupid” duo Kieron Trott, 19, and Christopher Cameron, 48, were supposed to bank the £3,380 taken by the Poundstretcher branch in Pallion Retail Park, in Sunderland, that day, but decided they wanted to feel what “gambling on red” was like instead.

The gamble not only cost them their jobs, but landed them in court where they each pleaded guilty to theft by employee.

In scenes “almost like something out of a comedy” according to Cameron’s defence lawyer Ian Cassidy, the pair took the cash to a casino but kept landing on black and blew the money within minutes, after being left in charge of the store.

They then phoned their boss and calmly told her to call the police before resigning last October.

Mr Cassidy told Sunderland Magistrates Court said Cameron had never even been to a casino before.

He said: “Part of the routine is to check the cash that has been taken that day.

“They are joking saying what would it be like if we took this money and gambled it. Unbelievably, they persuaded themselves to do this.

“They were seen transferring the cash into chips then go to the table saying red?’ and ‘yes’. Lo and behold it came up on black.”
Jason Smith, defending Trott, said: “It was an act of gross stupidity. They were saying ‘let’s go and do this, we might make some money’.

“How that would work is beyond me.”

Lee Poppett, prosecuting, said: “At 9pm she received a call from Mr Trott stating that she needed to come back to the store because they had gambled away the takings.

“She believed it was a form of joke, but Mr Trott said ‘I’m not joking, call the police’.

Trott and Cameron are in the process of repaying the money.  Trott, of Washington, Sunderland, and Cameron of Hendon, Tyne and Wear, were handed 12-month community orders and were told to pay £110 each in costs.

Trott, was told to carry out 100 hours unpaid work, while Cameron will have to do 66 hours.

Sourced from mirror.com