The former manager of an Aberystwyth hotel has been jailed after stealing £24,000 from the business.

Swansea Crown Court heard how James Hughes, 40, of Orchard Way, Helmsley, York, used his position as manager of Plas Nanteos Mansion hotel to steal £24,000 – money which he used on drugs and sex workers.

After his behaviour was uncovered and while being investigated by police in Aberystwyth, Hughes moved to London and got a managerial job at another hotel, where he stole another £40,000.

Tom Scapens, prosecuting, told the court that in 2017 Hughes got a live-in job as general manager at the Plas Nanteos and ‘almost immediately’ after the probation period was completed, he started stealing from the business.

He said Hughes introduced new procedures which he used to his benefit and devised a scheme where he could take payments from customers and put the money into his own accounts while deleting the relevant room booking or other transaction from the system.

Staff at the hotel became aware of Hughes’ past and alerted the directors.

Mr Scapens told the court that Hughes had a previous conviction for dishonesty and misconduct in a public office from 2012, relating to his time with West Yorkshire Police, for which he was jailed for 12 months.

Mr Scapens said the directors at Plas Nanteos asked the defendant why he had not disclosed this past conviction to them. He told them they were spent, and he hadn’t been asked and so was ‘given the benefit of the doubt’ and allowed to continue in his role.

However, in the summer of 2018 bosses became aware of payments Hughes was making to himself – including a £7,000 “loan” – and found out that the hotel’s accountants had been trying to get hold of the business’ books but the defendant had been refusing to hand them over.

Challenged about his behaviour Hughes left the hotel and got his dad to repay the £7,000.

Mr Scapens said an investigation was launched and Hughes’ activities were uncovered.

The prosecutor said the stolen money had been spent on “professional sex workers”.

After leaving Nanteos, Hughes moved to the Croydon area and became live-in managing director of the Coulsdon Manor Hotel in December 2019 where he later stole around £40,000.

Hughes had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of theft by an employee when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

Ffion Tomos, for Hughes, said the defendant was “locked into a self-destructive pattern” and was addicted to using the services of escorts and sex workers.

Judge Geraint Walters said the offending was driven by the defendant’s liking for cocaine and his addiction to sexual activity with sex workers. The judge sentenced Hughes to two-and-a-half years in prison, comprising 12 months for the Aberystwyth offence and 18 months for Coulsdon offence, with the sentences to run consecutively.