A recovering drug addict who stole several hundred pounds from a Falmouth seafront hotel till and told pursuing staff he had a knife has been spared jail.

John Christopher Dodd, 37, whose address was given as Aberfal House in Arwenack Avenue, Falmouth, had already attempted to take cash from two other local businesses before he went to the Membly Hall Hotel at around 8pm on Sunday, January 24.

Bathsheba Cassel of the Crown Prosecution Service told Truro Crown Court that Dodd rang the front door bell at the hotel and was allowed in, before asking a member of staff on the front desk to change money for him. When the employee opened the till in the hotel bar, Dodd barged him out of the way and grabbed approximately £400 in cash before running away.

He was chased by a second staff member, but they stopped following after he made threats and told them he had a knife.

Dodd was arrested later that evening and questioned the next morning, where he admitted stealing the money but did not admit to using force.

The court heard that Dodd had either used the money to buy drugs or to pay off a drug debt, but that he was now clean.

His defence told the court recorder, Martin Meeke QC: "At the time of arrest he didn't know what day of the week it was."

He added: "I have spoken to him and his wife. The person in the report is not the person I have spoken to today.

"He has been with his wife for ten years, they have worked together to get him off the drugs, to get him back to work and a member of society."

Dodd, who has a number of previous offences including two for possession of a class A drug with intent to supply and one for possession, pleaded guilty in July to a charge of robbery.

He was sentenced on Monday at Truro Crown Court to nine months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a rehabilitation requirement for 20 weeks.

The judge deemed him unable to pay costs, but ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of £100.