A DISBALED man said to have been used to do the dirty work' in a professional vehicle-stealing operation has been jailed for 19 months.

Mark Kay, 30, had been found by police behind the wheel of a stolen Mitsubishi towing a stolen caravan in the early hours of the morning on the motorway.

The registration of the Mitsubishi had been painted over to alter it, a screwdriver was on the passenger seat and there were no keys in the ignition, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Kay, who suffers from spina bifida, was on a suspended jail term for stealing a vehicle at the time.

The defendant, of Leicester Road, Blackburn, admitted two counts of theft and one of handling stolen goods and having no driving licence and no insurance.

Judge Norman Jones gave Kay 10 months for the thefts and activated the nine-month suspended term.

Tim Storrie, defending, said Kay's illness had affected him in his infancy and he had finished school ill-educated because he had spent a great deal of time in hospital.