POLICE investigating a meat firm raid went to a house and found a man asleep -- surrounded by bacon and chicken joints.

Burnley magistrates heard how Daniel Shaw, 20, had £100-worth of meat -- but his solicitor told the bench all he had got out of it was a few sausages for his breakfast.

Shaw, also involved in an off-licence fracas in which a window was broken, was fined a total of £600, but had spent time in custody.

Magistrates chairman Anthony Green said it would be deemed to have been served in lieu of fines.

Shaw, of Westmorland Street, Burnley, had admitted handling stolen goods, threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour and criminal damage.

Ian Rushton, prosecuting, said a freezer container had been broken into at Hardacre Ltd, a meat processing firm, on Gannow Lane, Burnley, and food worth £1,600 had been taken. Police later executed a search warrant at the defendant's sister's home.

Shaw was asleep, fully dressed and was surrounded by bacon and chicken joints taken the day before.

In a separate incident, he elbowed a man in an off-licence, a row started and the two men fell on to the pavement outside the shop.

The two female assistants were frightened and called for help. Shaw struck a window several times, causing it to break. Police arrived and the defendant was found trying to hide in a nearby driveway.

Mark Williams, defending, said Shaw had been out of trouble for some time, which had been something of an achievement for him.

He was now in the all too familiar position of standing before the court waiting for sentence.

Shaw accepted his friend had bought meat in rather dubious circumstances and he did not ask sufficient questions when he took it from him.

He was not going to get anything out of the offence except a few sausages for breakfast the next morning.