A thief who took a child benefit book from a car and tried to cash it was jailed for seven days by Burnley magistrates.

The court was told how John William Holmes, 26, claimed the book belonged to his mother and he had the authority to cash it.

Holmes, of Caldervale Guest House, Holme Street, Burnley, admitted theft and attempted deception.

Mark Williams, defending, said Holmes had spent three and a half years in custody and he had been taken out of the prison system and put into the hospital system.

He had been sectioned and remain sectioned for some time after the sentence was finished.