A 31-year-old Padiham man who syphoned £80 worth of diesel out of a farm vehicle claimed he had run out of fuel.
Blackburn magistrates heard James Joseph Martin used a piece of hosepipe he found in a farmyard to remove the diesel.
But police were able to get a DNA match from the end of the pipe.
Martin, of Langdale Road, Padiham, admitted theft of diesel from Barbara Duckworth and was made subject to a six-week curfew between 7pm and 7am and ordered to pay £80 compensation.
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