Richard Mahan (25) had won £90,000 gambling in an online casino. But his luck soon changed and, ignoring the sage advice of gamblers everywhere, he tried to claw his way back.

He used 13 of his parents’ credit cards and, as he gambled into the early hours, ran up debts of £158,000. Mahan then tried to kill himself in what is believed to be Scotland’s worst case of internet gambling addiction.

His parents, Linda and James, called in the police after the credit card companies told them that their insurance would not be valid unless they did so.

Forfar Sheriff Court was told yesterday that Mahan kept gambling at his parents’ home in Brechin, Angus, in April last year until he exhausted the limits on all the credit cards.