A hospital nurse who falsely claimed almost £1,500 for hours he did not work has narrowly escaped being sent to jail.

Ngoni Musarurwa, 24, added extra hours on his time sheets at Eastbourne District General Hospital on ten different occasions, Lewes Crown Court heard.

The court was told Musarurwa, who has worked as an agency nurse for five years, stopped because he felt guilty but discovery of his offences was inevitable.

Judge Richard Brown told Musarurwa: "These were serious offences. You were trusted to honestly state your working hours but you decided to defraud your employers.

"Very often custodial offences will follow such a sentence but, in your particular case, I am able to avoid sending you to prison.

"I accept your remorse and it is right to say you stopped your offending before being found out."

Musarurwa, who lives in hospital staff accommodation, admitted ten counts of false accounting between January and September last year, claiming £1,447 extra.

He denied a further charge of changing a cheque made out to himself by his employers from £170 to £29,170 and the prosecution offered no evidence.

The court heard how Musarurwa had described the practice of claiming for extra hours as widespread.

Gordon Menzies, defending, said: "The reason he stopped falsifying these documents is because he noticed a lady with back problems working every hour to make ends meet.

"He realised his dishonesty and stopped it.

"Discovery was inevitable and he made a full admission and has made an offer to repay.

"This isn't an excuse but an explanation.

"The practice was prevalent amongst colleagues. Temptation was put in his way and he yielded to it."

Mr Menzies said morale was low among staff and there was competition for work.

Stephen Earnshaw, prosecuting, said Musarurwa had previously had a good relationship with his employer and said there had been no problems with his attendance or his demeanour.

He said: "He is suspended from employment. What would happen after this is notice would be sent out to national health trusts to prevent him working again.

"He is also in a trust property and would be asked to leave at the end of this case."

Mr Earnshaw said the costs of an investigation into Musarurwa's offences and legal fees had come to more than £6,000 and he asked for a contribution to costs.

Musarurwa was given 200 hours community service for each offence to run concurrently and was ordered to pay £1,447.67 compensation.