A 28-YEAR-OLD Blackburn man ran out of chances when he appeared before a judge for the second time in a month.

Wayne Marvin Johnson, 28, of St Margaret's Way, pleaded guilty to theft of 200 cigarettes from a 16-year-old boy and assaulting him.

But District judge Paul Firth said he had sentenced Johnson for shoplifting in December after deciding it was not necessary to send him back to the crown court where he had been made subject to a deferred sentence two weeks earlier.

"I now take a different view and think it right that a judge in a different court should sentence you for all matters," he said.

Johnson was committed in custody for sentence at Preston Crown Court.

Neil White, prosecuting, said the boy had been talking to friends in Cutler Close on Sunday afternoon when a carton of cigarettes he had collected for his mum fell out from under his jacket.

Johnson, who was passing picked them up and refused to return them. And as the teen followed Johnson demanding the return of his property and calling the police he was punched in the face.

A passer-by eventually helped him retrieve the cigarettes as the police arrived.

Michael Blacklidge, defending, said: "He realises now the ordeal he put that young man through."