BURGLAR Christopher John Clough used a taxi to haul away £3,000 in coins from an amusement arcade in Weymouth, a judge heard at Dorchester Crown Court.

The money has never been found but Clough and his companion in crime were arrested after the taxi driver came forward following a media appeal by the police.

Judge Roger Jarvis sentenced Clough, 25, to 10 months in prison for the burglary in May.

He said: "You are a young man but heavily engaged in the drug culture. This offence was committed for the purchase of drugs for your own consumption."

He ordered Clough, of Commercial Road, Wey-mouth, to serve half the sentence in custody and the rest may be served on licence. Earlier, prosecutor Nicholas Tucker said police officers saw Clough and another man in bushes near the arcade in Alexandra Gardens one night in May. They had tools with them and said they had been smoking cannabis.

But the next morning the arcade manager discovered there had been a break-in through a window, tape had been put over electronic sensors to put them out of action and around £3,000 in coins taken from nine slot machines.

CCTV cameras showed two men had been in the premises at around 5am though the images were too dark to identify them. Mr Tucker said a taxi driver came forward after a police appeal and said she had picked up two men near the arcade at about that time. One man - later revealed to be Clough - struggled with a rucksack containing a heavy weight. The other man has yet to come to court.