FORMER Wickes store boss Eamonn Burns was jailed in 2016 after plundering more than £70,000 from the shop’s tills.

The year before, he had taken cash on an almost daily basis in order to buy a second home in Cyprus with his wife.

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.

Burns, then of Peatmoor, pleaded guilty to 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.”

Jailing him for 18 months 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.”

The authorities have spent the best part of two years trying to get Burns to pay back the stolen funds under Proceeds of Crime Act rules.