A DRUG addict's cure for insomnia got him arrested after police saw him pulling a wheelie bin in the early hours.

Steven Lumb, 50, had a haul of lead inside the bin, but claimed he had found it and thought he was doing nothing wrong, Burnley magistrates heard.

Lumb, a recovering heroin addict, found it difficult to sleep and would often go a walk round after his craving woke him up.

The jobless defendant, of Florence Street, Burnley, admitted theft.

Lumb, who was in breach of a conditional discharge and had 72 previous convictions for theft, was given a 12-month conditional discharge and must pay £60 costs, after the bench slammed him as a "nuisance".

Gareth Jones, defending, said Lumb had been a recovering heroin addict for many years and found it hard to sleep.

Rather than go and use street heroin or commit offences he would go for a walk down by the canal, he said.