A HOUSE raider landed his cousin in trouble when he gave his name after he was arrested, a court heard.

John Stott had to set out to prove his innocence, after Darren Heyworth, 41, gave his date of birth and details to police and a warrant was later issued for his arrest.

Heyworth, a heroin addict for 20 years, who has more than 70 offences on his record, had been found in a disused house in Leyland Road, Burnley, where the copper piping had been removed.

He had been bailed and had then gone on a £100 shoplifting trip in Boots, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Heyworth, who was in breach of a suspended jail term, admitted burglary, theft and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The defendant, of Spencer Street, Burnley, was locked up for a total of 44 weeks. He had been on remand.

Sentencing, Judge Simon Newell told Heyworth, now said to be on 20mls of methadone a day: “You are making good progress.

"It does seem it’s in everybody’s interests that the good progress is maintained.”