A 'CEREAL' e-bay user has sold a cornflake promoted by his pet parrot for £20.

Stephen Riley regularly takes part in e-bay's RTDC (Round Table Daft Competition) which involves frequent users auctioning something worthless.

Previous lots have included a pound coin, an e-bay compliment slip, a McDonald's Happy Meal Snoopy toy, used gift wrapping paper bought from Buckingham Palace gift shop and broken plastic beads.

Those participating are members of the Round Table, a discussion group for world wide users of the on-line auction, and are familiar with Stephen's feathered friend, Geordie, who has often been pictured on line.

For the latest RTDC, Stephen told the tale that he had been obsessed since the age of nine with finding two identical cornflakes. On finding what he considered a matching pair, he decided to auction them to raise cash for the RSPCA but says the person holding them for the picture dropped one and it was eaten by Geordie.

Stephen, 53, promoted the surviving cornflake as being even more valuable once its twin had met its demise. Stephen, of Lindisfarne Avenue, Blackburn, said: "The rule is that the items are things that are worthless and you just see what happens. What might be useless to me might be worth something to someone else. There also has to be a twist, hence my story about the matching pair."

Daft as it was, the cornflake attracted 15 bids including the winning bid for £20 by a browser called Lynda. Stephen and Geordie donated the money to the RSPCA at Altham.

BUDDING artist Chloe Croft has made her first sale on e-bay at the tender age of five. The Great Harwood Primary School pupil sold a portrait of a cat and a tree for £2.20. And her dad Wayne, 28, said the youngster was already working on her next masterpiece which depicts a dog chasing a cat.

Chloe lives with her dad Wayne, mum Sarah and little sister Abbie in Ward Street, Great Harwood.