A FORMER deputy manager of a Devizes filling station has been told he faces a jail sentence after he admitted stealing £1,600 from his employers.

Richard O'Neill, 26, of Azalea Drive, Trowbridge, pleaded guilty before Kennet magistrates in Devizes on Tuesday of stealing the cash from the till and falsifying banking documents.

Marion Langford, prosecuting, told the bench that O'Neill was employed as deputy manager at the filling station in Northgate Street, Devizes, and while standing in as manager between May 20 and 30 last year, he was required to fill out reconciliation sheets to put with the cash destined for the bank.

He admitted falsifying these sheets before taking the money to the bank and pocketing the cash.

He told police that he did it for revenge against the manager.

Malcolm Wieck, defending, said that there had been problems between O'Neill and his boss and he had been under stress at the time of the theft. He said there were a number of points to make in mitigation, but he would defer bringing them before the court until the pre-sentence report was prepared.

Presiding magistrate Jill Petchley told O'Neill that she and her colleagues were adjourning the case for a pre-sentence report in which they would consider all options, including custody. She adjourned the case until Monday June 27 at Andover Magistrates' Court, which has facilities to take people into custody.