A BURGLAR emptied £6,500 from the safe of the restaurant where his pregnant wife worked before booking himself a luxury Florida holiday with the loot.

Gambling addict Gareth Stone had “cased the joint” at Page’s fish and chip restaurant in Cwmbran before he carried out the raid, prosecutor Julia Cox said.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how the 29-year-old defendant took note of the business’ burglar alarm code and had a key to the office where the safe was kept.

He had prepared for the raid after going there to pick up his wife – a supervisor at Page’s – after she finished work and knew where to look for the key to the safe.

Miss Cox said Sarah Stone had “no involvement at all” in the burglary and the court heard she was “devastated” when she found out about it.

Judge Nicola Jones was told the couple’s relationship was now over as a result of the husband’s crime.

After he committed the raid on February 11, 2018, Stone, of Park Road, Penygarn, Pontypool, drove to Gatwick Airport.

Miss Cox said: “He had booked a holiday to Orlando to stay at a Hilton hotel for 14 nights and tickets for the Universal Studios theme park. The £1,967.89 he paid was in cash.”

But Stone then decided not to travel to the USA and handed himself in to police a few days later.

The defendant, who pleaded guilty to burglary, also has two previous convictions for break-ins dating back to 2009 and 2010.

Miss Cox read a victim impact statement from the restaurant's owner Jonathan Page.

She said: “He told of how he was unable to pay his suppliers promptly and how concerned he was about the security of his business and has paid extra for security measures.”

Mr Page told how this crime had been of “massive frustration for me”.

He added: “I have lost sleep after this incident.”

The money stolen has never been recovered and no repayments have been made to Mr Page.

A pre-sentence report read to the court heard how lorry driver Stone was “addicted to gambling” and had debts of £35,000 at the time of the offence.

A large amount of his arrears was also as a result of buying cars on finance and he regularly had bailiffs knocking at his door.

Hashim Salmman mitigating, said his client had pleaded guilty and that there had been an “unacceptable delay” of 14 months in the case coming to its conclusion.

He urged the court impose a suspended prison term.

Judge Jones said Stone’s offending was so serious that an immediate custodial sentence was the only option.

She jailed him for 18 months.