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<\/p>\nA sick "sex pest" ex-cop with a cocaine habit and an addiction to hookers used his position as manager at a hotel to steal thousands of pounds.<\/p>\n
James Hughes had previously been convicted of using a police computer to get hold of women\u2019s contact details before bombarding them with messages, WalesOnline reports.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old used his position as manager to steal \u00a324,000 from a boutique hotel in Ceredigion.<\/p>\n
After this behaviour was exposed and he was under police investigation he moved to Surrey where he got another managerial job and swindled a different posh hotel out of \u00a340,000.<\/p>\n
The money was spent on sex workers because of Hughes' addiction to the attention he got in return, Swansea Crown Court heard.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tom Scapens, prosecuting, said the defendant introduced a new system at the hotel whereby he could discreetly put hotel money into his account.<\/p>\n
His employers were not aware of his previous conviction for abusing his position in the police to illegally contact an "alarming amount of women".<\/p>\n
One victim was contacted 1,500 times in three months.<\/p>\n
After his theft from the hotels was exposed, Hughes, of Orchard Way, Helmsley, York, admitted two counts of theft by an employee.<\/p>\n
Ffion Tomos, mitigating, said he was "locked into a self-destructive pattern" that he couldn\u2019t escape.<\/p>\n
She said Hughes was addicted to using the services of escorts and "feels he has to provide them with a certain lifestyle so they stay with him".<\/p>\n
The barrister added her defendant has obsessive and compulsive thinking and is "driven by the need to be appreciated and approved of".<\/p>\n
Judge Geraint Walters said the offending was driven by a liking for cocaine and an "unusual" addiction to sex workers.<\/p>\n
He gave the defendant a one-third discount on his sentence for pleading guilty and sentenced him to two and a half years in prison.<\/p>\n
Hughes will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence.<\/p>\n
An investigation under Proceeds of Crime Act powers is underway.<\/p>\n