A TRUSTED employee who stole almost £107,000 from the Longtown hotel where he was the manager must hand over nearly £74,000 in compensation.

Stewart McIntosh, who blamed his offending on a "crippling" and long-term addiction to gambling, benefited to the tune of £115,553 from his stealing while he ran the Graham Arms Hotel in Longtown, a judge has ruled.

At a Proceeds of Crime hearing before Carlisle Crown Court today, lawyers confirmed that McIntosh's available assets – mostly from pension funds – were just £73,614.

He must now hand over that entire amount to the Graham Arms Hotel Limited.

If he fails to do that within three months he will face a further 18 months in jail, said Judge Nicholas Barker.

An earlier hearing was told McIntosh – whose £18,000 a year job came with a flat at the English Street hotel – carried out the theft over a prolonged period.

His "addiction” spiralled out of control with the advent on online gambling, which allowed him to place bets over his mobile phone, the court was told.

“He was unable to control his behaviour," said his lawyer.

In court today, defence lawyer Jeff Smith told the judge that McIntosh, who was 58 when he was brought to justice, did not object to the Proceeds of Crime application from the Crown Prosecution Service.

The law allows the courts to strip criminals of any profits they made from their offending.

During the earlier hearing, police said that the defendant showed no remorse during the investigation.

Considered both a loyal employee and a friend of the hotel’s owners, he had even continued to steal from them while they were dealing with a family bereavement.

McIntosh was jailed for 32 months.

The judge described him as “manipulative and deceitful."

The scale of his deception emerged only after his employer - who initially kept McIntosh on after discovering he had kept rather than banked £6,000 of the hotel's cash in 2018 - hired a tax consultant to go through the books back to 2011.

He was finally sacked when they realised just how much money he had stolen.

McIntosh had never been in trouble before and had no previous convictions, the court heard.

He admitted his guilt, claiming he felt "extreme remorse."

He was not present for today’s hearing.