A SHOP worker who won 'very modest' amounts of cash from thousands of pounds worth of stolen National Lottery tickets has escaped a prison sentence.

For nine months Paul Andrew Bush, of Droomer Drive, Windermere, printed tickets from the Co-op where he had worked when the shop was quiet and he was bored, South Lakeland Magistrates' Court heard.

The 46-year-old, who had no previous convictions, admitted four counts of theft by employee spanning a nine month period from December 1 2012 and August 31 last year.

The total cash value of the lottery tickets was £6,089 but the court heard Bush had since repaid £3,329.98 to his former employer.

An audit revealed there had been 'multiple lines and multiple tickets with high value costs in quick succession', said Lisa Hine, prosecuting.

"Tickets were being printed but no money was going into the till," she said. Ms Hine added Bush, who was later sacked after he admitted the offence to his area manager, was also caught on CCTV.

Bush told police in his interview that he had initially printed a ticket worth £2 and had intended to repay the cash.

But he soon 'fell into the habit' and by the summer of 2013 'developed an addiction' and had also started printing EuroMillions tickets.

One of the offences, on August 8 last year, saw lottery tickets to the value of £1,785 stolen.

The court heard police searched his home on January 8 this year and recovered a quantity of tickets.

In mitigation Paul Anthony: "Initially he acted in innocence but unfortunately it became an unstoppable addiction. He is extremely ashamed and remorseful for his behaviour."

Sentencing Bush to 250 hours unpaid work, chair of the magistrates Margaret Stamper said: "When coming to our sentence we took into account your guilty plea, the fact you have paid back money and that you co-operated with the firm and also the police."

Bush was also made to pay £85 court costs and a £60 victim surcharge.