AN unemployed man who supplemented his benefits by collecting scrap was caught by a community support officer throwing copper piping out of the upstairs window of a boarded-up house, a court was told.
Blackburn magistrates heard Stephen Trevor Preece had used a section of wooden fencing as a make-shift ladder to climb into the property on Two Gates Estate, Darwen, which was awaiting demolition.
Preece, 29, of Burnley Close, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to burglary and theft of property worth £230. He was ordered to do 60 hours community punishment, made subject to a community rehabilitation order for 12 months and ordered to pay £65 costs..
Michael Blacklidge, defending, said: "When the houses are demolished the copper piping and cylinders will no doubt be for salvage and reclamation and that is effectively what my client was doing.
"He is in the habit of collecting scrap and weighing it in to supplement his income."
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