AN INNOCENT man jailed for two weeks for offences he didn't commit claims he has lost his home and friends because of his ordeal.

Mark Barnes, 21, blamed police for not doing their job when a neighbour accused him of burglary and assault.

"They just locked me up for something I hadn't done," he said. "I hardly slept for two weeks worrying. If I fell asleep I would wake up thinking I was at home and then just see four walls and a strong door."

Now police have launched their own inquiry after a magistrate released Mark and said the case should never have been brought.

Mark, formerly of Cardwell Place, Blackburn, claims he was arrested after asking a neighbour to store some furniture and duvets while he looked for a new flat.

But when he tried to reclaim them three weeks ago, he said the neighbour refused to hand them back.

Mark left but said the police then arrested him and accused him of assaulting the neighbour, burglary and theft - of his own property.

He asked them to contact the neighbour so he could prove the property was still in the Cardwell Place flat and hadn't been taken. "I told them where he would be but the officer just said 'I can't find him. I'm charging you with it'," said Mark.

Magistrates sent him to Preston Prison on remand for a week but when he appeared in court police hadn't made inquiries so Mark was sent back for another week.

A week later police still hadn't checked the flat but magistrates decided to release him on bail.

And last Friday stipendiary magistrate Jonathon Finestein dismissed all charges after the police found the allegedly stolen property at the accuser's flat.

Mr Finestein said: "This requires investigation and the police, as a matter of some urgency, should launch an inquiry into how this case came about and take steps against the person who made these complaints."

Mark's solicitor, Kevin Preston of Farleys solicitors, has advised Mark to sue the police and his accuser. "If the police had acted on the information they were given my client would not have spent two weeks in prison. It clearly was not fully investigated for more than two weeks."

Mark plans to make a complaint against the police after the inquiry.

"If they had gone round to check on the first day it would all have been sorted," he said.

"I still haven't got my stuff back, I think most of it's been thrown away and if I go round he's going to do the same thing again. I'm not going through all that again."

His new landlord didn't want him back so he's now living at relatives' homes in Bank Top.

"I was just starting to get everything sorted out. Now I've lost my flat and a lot of friendship and respect."

Detective Inspector Tony Harling, of Lancashire Constabulary, said: "We are making inquiries into this.

"The arresting officer has told me that he went back to the flat on the day of the arrest and the property was not there."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.