A MAN has denied stealing a fruit machine from his employers and then making a statement to police claiming others had taken it, a court heard.

Twenty-year-old Kiel Johnson, 20, is alleged to have bragged to a former girlfriend that he had taken the Bat Out of Hell machine from the company he worked for, before selling it to a man from the Willington area of County Durham.

Mr Johnson, of Greenhead, Crook, pleaded not guilty to a charge of theft from the company, Gamestec, which is based on Cold Hesledon Industrial Estate, near Seaham, during a short hearing at Durham Crown Court.

He also denied doing an act to pervert the course of justice by making the false statement to police that the fruit machine was stolen by others.

Both offences were said to have happened in March.

He appeared alongside 20-year-old James Young, of Clifton Green, Crook, who denied dishonestly receiving the stolen gaming machine, between March 20 and July 19.

The case was adjourned and Judge Guy Whitburn QC bailed both to return for trial at the court on January 30.