A SHOP assistant who was given a verbal dressing down by his manager returned to the store that night and stole cash.

Waheed Ur Hassan Ashgar told Blackburn magistrates that the manager had called him "useless and incompetent."

And he said that when he went to the shop at night he knew he would be caught on CCTV but carried out the theft anyway.

Ashgar, of Saunders Road, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to theft as an employee of £294 from Witton Pharmacy.

He was ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work and pay £294 compensation Eddie Harrison, prosecuting, said when the manager realised money had been taken from a cash box he viewed the CCTV from the night before which showed Ashgar entering the shop.

He said Ashgar, who was of previous good character admitted the offence to police.

Ashgar, who was not represented, told a previous hearing he had been visiting his infant nephew in Pendlebury Children's hospital. He said petrol was expensive and everything was getting on top of him.

He said the day of the offence had been a "bad day". A colleagues had given the wrong item to a customer from Leyland and he had volunteered to take the correct item.

"I didn't know Leyland and I couldn't find her," he said. "When I got back after about an hour the manager shouted at me. He said I was useless and incompetent and other things. That really got to me."

"Even though I knew the CCTV was on I still did it," said Ashgar. "Something came over me. I knew I would be caught."