A BLACKBURN teenager was told to change his circle of friends after admitting "holding" a mobile phone one of his mates had stolen from his aunt.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Samuel Paul Phillips had been handed the phone by his friend when he saw the police coming. Defence solicitor Jonathan Taylor said his client was angry with himself for getting involved.

Phillips, 19, of Leamington Road, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods. He was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £30 costs.

Scott Ainge, prosecuting, said the phone was stolen from June Earnshaw by her nephew Gary Alderson. Police saw him with a group of other young men, including Phillips.

Alderson was searched, then arrested and placed in a police vehicle. He asked the police if he got the phone back would they let him go and said Phillips had it. Phillips denied knowledge of the phone but it was found on him.

The chairman of the magistrates said: "If you are trying to make a fresh start perhaps you shouldn't be hanging around with the kind of people who steal from their auntie."