A MAN with an external university degree stole £600 from a bingo hall where he worked in order to pay a cocaine debt, magistrates heard.

Karl Wayne Bohanna, of Gallt y Sil, Caernarfon, who had repaid the cash to Majestic Bingo in the town, pleaded guilty to theft as an employee.

He was given a 12-month community order with 15 days of rehabilitation activity, 35 days of an accredited programme and 150 hours of unpaid work. Bohanna must pay costs of £170.

Diane Williams, prosecuting at Caernarfon, said Bohanna, 33, had been a bingo house manager at the time of the theft between August and October last year.

A cash count had revealed shortages. She revealed that in 2007 he had also been in trouble for stealing as an employee.

A probation officer told the court that Bohanna had voluntarily enrolled with Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.

Alex Fitzgerald, defending, said it was an unsophisticated theft, for which Bohanna was remorseful and ashamed.

After obtaining his external degree in Welsh language, media and theatre he had for a time worked as a secondary school teacher and had been accepted for a master’s.