TWO drunken teenagers who raided a newsagents shop in the middle of the night have both started six-month terms of detention.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Shaun Birtwistle, 18, and Mark Illsley, 19, helped themselves to cigarettes, lottery tickets and cash to the tune of more than £1,800.

None of the property was recovered.

Sentencing, Judge Raymond Bennett said these days shopkeepers found it very hard to pay insurance premiums, and it was even harder when they had been burgled. They often had to pay an excess as well.

He told the defendants each had had a warning shot over their bows, had not heeded it and had only themselves to blame.

Illsley, of Holgate Street, and Birtwistle, of Lime Street, both Great Harwood, admitted burglary and had been committed for sentence by Hyndburn magistrates.

Tim Ashwall, prosecuting, said Sears newsagents, in Church Street, Great Harwood, was broken into in March when a pane of glass was kicked in.

Their footwear matched prints left at the scene.

John Buckley, defending, said the offence was opportunistic, naive and rather inept.

The defendants had both been foolish and drunk, he added.