A SOCIAL worker who found a 29-year-old man accommodation in Blackburn unwittingly helped him into a heroin addiction, a court heard.

Blackburn magistrates were told that Philip Lewis came to Blackburn from Bolton with one conviction for stealing a packet of biscuits.

But Alfred Rebello, defending, said his client was rapidly building a criminal record after being tempted into drugs by other residents at the Islington Motel.

Lewis, 29, of the Islington Motel, Great Bolton Street, pleaded guilty to stealing hair trimmers worth £20 from TK Max and two bottles of whisky from Marks and Spencer. He was fined £30 for each offence after the court was told he had been made subject to a community supervision order just three days before the first offence with a drug rehabilitation requirement.