A security worker stole £35,000 from his employer and went on a spending spree, a court heard.

Courier Daniel Horn, 22, is accused of taking cash bags from Securicor to pay off debts and buy expensive holidays, a camcorder and a laptop computer.

Horn, of Christchurch Road, Worthing, is alleged to have stolen one bag, which held £25,000, on January 2 last year, Lewes Crown Court heard.

The jury was told Horn, who denies two charges of theft, collected a number of money bags from the Abbey National in Terminus Road, Eastbourne.

It is alleged he stole another bag 11 days later.

This time, the money, taken from Yes Car Credit, in Springfield Road, Horsham, totalled £10,091.

Nick Hall, prosecuting, told the court Horn was alleged to have stolen the cash bags during routine collections from the two businesses. Each bag collected should be scanned by an electronic device by the courier and a printed receipt immediately issued.

In both the cases where bags allegedly went missing, they had not been scanned and the mistake was missed by staff.

At the Abbey National, 22 bags were collected but only 21 were listed on the receipt.

At Yes Car Credit, eight bags were allegedly handed over to Horn but only seven were scanned into the device.

At first the disappearance of the cash was not noticed and by the time police investigating the missing bags arrested Horn in April last year, he had allegedly spent more than £19,000 of the stolen money.

Mr Hall told the jury: "Right from the day after the first alleged theft and for a number of months afterwards, this defendant got through a huge amount of cash.

"I can conservatively put sums in excess of £19,000 on consumer spending, most of it on holidays and some loans being paid off."

The jury heard Horn bought expensive items for cash from Dixons on three separate visits between January and March last year.

He purchased a laptop and other computer equipment totalling £1,010, a £300 hi-fi system and speakers and a digital camcorder worth £595.

Shop assistant Daniel Miles, who works at the branch in Montague Street, Worthing, told the jury he could recall Horn buying items and counting cash from bundles he took from pockets in his jacket and trousers.

The trial continues.