THE deputy manager of a bookmakers who allegedly scammed nearly £2,000 from the company has claimed he is "100%" innocent.

Nottingham Crown Court has heard Benjamin Wager, 22, altered betting slips after races and pocketed the cash.

Yesterday Justin Wigoder, defending, asked Wager if he had been intending to steal from Coral by creating ambiguous and illegible betting slips for greyhound racing.

The slips were then changed to match a race result.

Wager, of Mayo Road, Sherwood, said: "I am 100% positive I am not a thief."

At Coral, bets are laid by filling in blue betting slips which are then entered on to the Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) system by staff.

The slip is scanned and a photostat copy is produced immediately. Although a permanent copy of the slip is taken by the EPOS it cannot interpret the information on it, such as the race venue, time, dog backed and stake value. This is done by members of staff and is known as 'translation'. It does not matter if this happens before the race starts or after it has finished.

Mr Wigoder asked Wager the procedure when an illegible slip is handed to Coral staff by a customer.

"You would sort it out with a customer prior to the bet," said Wager.

The court heard that Wager had been working at The Meadows branch, and was transferred to Mansfield Road one month before the alleged scam began.

Wager said he had been assaulted by a customer and so asked to be moved.

"It was a very different shop in a particularly rough area, it was large and constantly busy," he said.

Wager said that after being assaulted he told his manager he wanted to leave, but they convinced him to stay. After a few days he decided he could not work there any more and said he would leave if he could not be transferred.

Wager denies eight counts of theft.

Proceeding

tanya.holden@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk