A CIVILIAN manager stole almost £3,000 from Worcester police station where he worked and blew it on booze, a court heard.

Jack Cook was in charge of storing money which had been seized by police in Worcester – but he pocketed £2,964 of it to finance his heavy drinking habit, magistrates in Gloucester were told.

The only way he could afford his nightly six pints of beer and a bottle of whisky was to steal, he told police when he was arrested.

Cook, of Droitwich Road, Worcester, admitted seven charges of theft from West Mercia Police and asked for 10 others to be taken into consideration.

They covered the period from July 2007 to April this year, the court was told.

The seven main charges totalled £2638.94. The 10 offences to be considered added up to £325.31.

The magistrates decided the case was too serious for them to deal with in view of Cook’s breach of trust as the Worcester police station senior property manager and the amount involved.

They committed him to Gloucester Crown Court to be sentenced on Monday, December 14.

Sharon Jomaa, prosecuting, said that after a career in the Armed Forces, Cook started work for West Mercia Police in May 1992 as a property officer in the seized property office.

He was promoted to senior officer, managing six other staff, in December 2003. In April he took time off work with long-term health problems, but a week later a routine external audit was carried out and discrepancies in his department began to appear.

Empty envelopes which had contained cash and which bore reference numbers were found around the offices and in an electric meter cupboard under Cook’s desk, Ms Jomaa said.

Cook was arrested and made full admissions.

“He said until his health had deteriorated he had a drink problem and stole to fund that habit,” she said.

“He said each evening he would attend his local pub and drink half a dozen pints of beer before buying a £10 bottle of whisky on the way home and drinking that.

“As a consequence of having insufficient salary and pension, he stole money from the seized funds and used it to buy alcohol.”

Ms Jomaa said Cook had “worked the system” so that each time an audit had taken place he could take money which he knew was not likely to be checked again.

Joe Kieran, defending, said: “He is 59 and is a man of positive good character until now.

“Almost unfailingly he has been perfectly frank, fully contrite and admitted his offending without prevarication or quibble.”

Cook was bailed unconditionally pending sentence in three weeks’ time.