A DRUNKEN youth took a friend's car on a £1,700 wrecking spree with his pal's dog in the back of the vehicle, a court heard.

Nicolo Guiseppe Marchese, 19, of Westbury Gardens, Blackburn, was given keys to the car after agreeing to walk the dog.

But he took the car to Shadsworth estate and drove through gardens before crashing into the window of a flat.

Marchese had previously admitted an aggravated offence of taking a vehicle without consent.

He also admitted driving with excess alcohol, driving without insurance and driving without a valid licence.

Blackburn magistrates sentenced him to 180 hours community service and banned him from driving for two years. He was ordered to pay £380 compensation.

Elizabeth Read, prosecuting, said Marchese had been to a house party. A friend had parked her car near the house with the dog inside. Marchese offered to walk a girl home and his friend asked him if he could walk her dog at the same time.

Instead he drove the car to Shadsworth, into a garden, drove through a fence, across another garden and through some railings, uprooting a garden post. He then drove through a window of a ground floor flat and ran off, leaving the dog.

He was arrested, breathalysed and found to be more than twice the legal limit.

Deborah Jameson, defending, said Marchese had never been in trouble before.

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