A DRUNKEN teenager helped raid the flat next door when he attended a birthday party, a court was told.

Burnley Magistrates heard how Shaun Lee Nuttall, 20, was found under the bed with a sheet over him when police arrived in the early hours.

They found the front door of the flat next door had been kicked in.

Nuttall, of Gannow Lane, Burnley, admitted burglary on April 28 and was given a four-week curfew, every day of the week, between 7pm and 7am. He must also pay £160 compensation.

The bench told the defendant they were concerned he was mixing with the wrong sort of people who were getting him into trouble. They added he needed to change his attitude and behaviour and the Think First programme he was currently subject to, would help.

Elizabeth Reed, prosecuting, said police were alerted just before 3am after banging was heard coming from an upstairs flat in Edgeworth Grove, Burnley. They saw figures running between the property, where the front door was smashed, and the flat next door.

The defendant was under a bed next door and was noticed to be bleeding from his hands. He said he cut it on glass.

Mrs Reed said £1,600 of damage was caused to the burgled flat where the boiler and shower unit had been pulled off the wall.

Mark Williams, defending, said Nuttall had not committed any offences of dishonesty since October 1999 and had never been convicted of burglary.

He was currently subject to a community rehabilitation order and had started the Think First programme.

Nuttall had been drinking at a birthday party until the early hours and then went into the next door flat and removed the shower unit.

Mr Williams went on: "Quite why that was done, Shaun Nuttall can give no explanation. He was drunk and remembers very little."