A DIY store boss who plundered tens of thousands of pounds from work has been jailed for 18 months.

Eamonn Burns siphoned more than £70,000 from the tills at Wickes, where he was a customer service manager, by operating a false refund scam.

And the 31-year-old dad used the cash, often taken on a daily basis during 2015, to buy a second home with his wife in Cyprus.

Meanwhile his lower paid former colleagues have missed out on annual bonuses and are subject to an overtime ban, knocking back their chances of boosting their incomes.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how Burns became a manager at the flagship store, which has a £10m turnover, in June 2013.

But in December last year an investigation into refunds found numerous repayments were being made to bank accounts in his name, totalling at least £70,540.

It was also uncovered that he had falsified invoices in a bid to cover his tracks and also used the details of innocent customers on the paperwork.

She said further investigations found that although an area manager was meant to authorise refunds over £1,000 he had made one to himself for £6,500.

And when police went to his house they found a load of tiles which he had got from work and obtained a refund for, meaning they were stolen.

During his year of stealing she said he bought a house in the Greek part of Cyprus for £66,620.

When he was questioned he immediately admitted what he had been doing saying he started stealing because he was in debt, but greatly underestimated what he took.

Once he had paid off what he owed, which was less than £6,000, he accepted he became greedy and kept taking more.

Burns, of Webbs Wood, Peatmoor, pleaded guilty to one count of theft.

Rob Ross, defending, said “It is always sad to find yourself in the position of mitigating for someone who is in every other way a perfectly decent family man.”

He said Burns had a wife and young child with another on the way and had always been in work.

Although the offending was planned he said it was not overly sophisticated and he was always bound to get found out.

In the months since his arrest he had got two jobs but they both fell through when his employers found out about the court hearings.

He now planned to move back to Wales to be closer to family and he could work with his father as a painter and decorator.

Jailing him Judge Tim Mousley QC said: “I am satisfied that to a large extent you were motivated by greed and most of what you obtained seems to have been spent on a reasonable degree of high living.

"The other side of the coin of course is it had an impact on other general members of staff that my attention has been drawn to.

"You said you were motivated by financial gain due to debt you had, but that debt was £6,000 at most.

"But there are other ways of discharging debt, honest ways of discharging debt, and I can't really accept that is the main reason why you stole from your employer, particularly when I take into account you have this property in Greek Cyprus that you still have."