A DRUNKEN man told police who had watched him steal a clock from a charity shop he was taking it to show "Scouse Larry" and had no intention of stealing it.
But when he appeared before Blackburn magistrates Kevin Stanley Halstead admitted stealing the wooden clock from Cancer Research.
Halstead, 33, of Oakenhurst Road, was ordered to do 80 hours' community punishment.
Phillip Potter, prosecuting, said two officers saw Halstead apparently in a drunken state.
They followed him onto Northgate where he went into the charity shop. The officers watched him take a large wooden clock off a shelf and then leave the store without making any effort to pay.
"When the officers stopped him he had the clock under his jacket, but when interviewed he said he had no intention to steal it," said Mr Potter.
Daniel King, defending, said Halstead has an intermittent drink problem.
"One of the triggers is friends of a like mind and one of those associates is Scouse Larry," said Mr King.
"He is ashamed of this offence especially as it was against a charity shop."
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