A BUILDER'S labourer stole two cheques from the house he was working on then he drew cash for more than £5,000.

Philip Flaherty, 19, squandered most of it at a Southampton casino and spent the rest on a car and food.

He was arrested after a police officer saw him driving on the wrong side of a road junction in Millbrook and walk away.

Prosecutor Richard Willcox said Flaherty then gave a false name and twice corrected himself on his date of birth which heightened the officer's suspicions and looking into the vehicle, discovered another man's wallet and credit card.

Flaherty, of Holly Oak Road, Aldermoor, admitted two counts of making false cheques and using them, and one each of burglary, theft by finding, and having no insurance and no driving licence. He was given a six month suspended sentence coupled with orders to do 150 hours unpaid work for the community and observe a six month curfew.

Fining him an additional £50 and ordering him to pay £100 costs, Recorder John Jarvis QC told him: "I am giving you this opportunity to make something out of your life. If you don't, you will spend the rest of it in prison."

Natalie Freeborn, defending, said Flaherty had been sacked but had since obtained a job with an agency and was repaying the stolen cash to the bank.