A YOUNG father who stole nearly £35,000 from two separate employers to repay a cocaine drug debt has been jailed for 18 months.Darren Corcoran pleaded guilty to two counts of theft during a hearing at Bury St Edmunds Crown Court yesterday .

A YOUNG father who stole nearly £35,000 from two separate employers to repay a cocaine drug debt has been jailed for 18 months.

Darren Corcoran pleaded guilty to two counts of theft during a hearing at Bury St Edmunds Crown Court yesterday . Judge John Devaux heard the father-of-one merely took jobs in order to steal after a drug dealer to whom he owed £1,000 began threatening his family.

Corcoran started offending after moving from Eastgate Close in Thames Mede, London, to his uncle's home in Bury for his own safety.

Peter Gair, prosecuting, told the court the 24-year-old had taken computer games and mobile phone vouchers worth £23,000 from storerooms at Choices Video, in Bury town centre, before emptying the till of £5,700 in takings.

The incident happened just six days after Corcoran began working at the shop as an assistant manager last October. He did not return to work following the incident.

Just two months later, on December 8, Corcoran stole a van-load of electrical goods worth £5,600 while employed with Mastercare Services and Distribution Ltd, as a delivery driver.

The empty van was discovered dumped between Pakenham and Ixworth, while the goods were never recovered.

Corcoran handed himself in to police on December 11.

Richard Potts, mitigating, said: "My client formed a relationship with cocaine at an early age, which has led him into the difficulties he is facing now.

"A debt had built up of around £1,000, and it was a debt he could not service. His creditor was not willing to wait.

"It was made clear to him that if he did not pay, trouble would come his way. What he then did was foolhardy in the extreme, and certainly he dishonestly took advantage of the trust which was placed in him."

Judge Devaux sentenced Corcoran to 18 months imprisonment for stealing from Choices, along with nine months for the second theft of electrical goods. The terms will run concurrently.

"The inference is that you attained these jobs not so much to work but to provide yourself with an opportunity to steal," he told Corcoran.

"All too often a drug debt is given as a reason by people in your position for committing offences such as theft and burglary."