A security worker has been cleared of stealing two cash bags containing £35,000.

Daniel Horn walked free from court when a judge halted his trial.

At the end of the prosecution case he said the 22-year-old former Securicor guard, of Christchurch Road, Worthing, had no case to answer.

Judge John Samuels, QC, ruled there was no evidence to show Mr Horn ever had the money in his possession.

Nicholas Hall, prosecuting, had alleged a money bag containing £25,000 went missing after Mr Horn collected it with 21 others from Abbey National in Eastbourne in January last year.

It was also claimed a second bag containing £10,000 could not be accounted for after Mr Horn allegedly collected it 11 days later from Yes Car Credit in Springfield Road, Horsham. Police were alerted and Securicor held an investigation.

Peter Maguire, a Securicor inspector, told the jury he found Mr Horn had done nothing wrong.

He said: "My investigation concluded Mr Horn had followed procedures when he made the collections."

Police suspicions were aroused when Mr Horn appeared to go on a spending spree after the bags could not be accounted for.

He put a £4,500 cash deposit on a new car and paid £2,000 to have its alloy wheels and stereo upgraded.

Mr Horn, employed by Securicor at a depot in Old Shoreham Road, Hove, as a crew member on armoured vans, also booked a £1,500 trip to St Lucia with his girlfriend but cancelled it after they split up.

Instead, he took a male friend on holiday to Greece.

He also bought a laptop computer, TV surround sound system and camcorder.

At the end of the prosecution case Richard Brown, defending, applied in the absence of the jury for the trial to be halted, saying there was no case to answer.

The jury had been told an Abbey cashier failed to check the number of bags she gave Mr Horn when she accepted his receipt for 21 bags and that a similar error happened at Yes Car Credit.

Yesterday Judge Samuels directed the jury at Hove Crown Court to return not guilty verdicts.