A DRUG addict mounted a harassment campaign against his widowed mother to get cash, a court heard.

Burnley Crown Court was told Jason Shepherd, 30, sneaked into her home via the coal chute, demanded cash and prevented her phoning the police.

The victim had realised that by continually giving the defendant cash his habit was going to get worse and she felt she had no alternative but to turn him in.

Shepherd, said to come from a good home, but to have "gone off the rails", due to his addiction, admitted harassment.

The defendant, of Mount Pleasant, Stud Brow, Whitworth, was given 12 months supervision, with a nine month drug rehabilitation requirement and a restraining order, banning him from going within 500 metres of his mother's home on James Street, Whitworth.

He had been on remand in custody.

Recorder Maurice Greene told Shepherd his mother had wanted to do the very best for him but he had been turning up at her home every day until she couldn't cope and had no alternative but to call the police.