Steven Green, now a stud worker at Newmarket in Suffolk, pocketed the cash before attempting to cover up part of the theft by telling police he had been robbed.

But he was caught out when his employer, Dairy Crest, discovered a series of discrepancies after Green failed to enter money he received from customers into a hand-held computer.

Prosecutor Sarah-Jane Atkins told Mildenhall Magistrates' Court on Thursday that the 43-year-old owed Dairy Crest a total of £2,592.

When interviewed by police, he said the reason he had committed the offences was because his drug habit was 'out of control'.

Green, of Snailwell Stud Cottages, who defended himself, told the court he stole the cash in a 'moment of madness'.

"I am so ashamed of it," he said. "It started so small and I didn't realise at the time what I was doing.

"I never thought it was that much at all as it was in little bits and bobs – I didn't know what to do and I knew I was in a fix."

The court was told the offences were carried out in Sutton between May and August last year.

Green, who admitted two charges of theft at an earlier hearing, was given a 24-week prison sentence suspended for 12-months and made the subject of a 12-month supervision order with a requirement to attend a drug prevention programme.

He was also ordered to pay back the £2,592 he stole to his former employer.

Magistrate Brian Harvey said: "We are satisfied that these offences are so serious that custody is a suitable sentence."