Police investigating a report from neighbours of two strangers entering a Blackburn address discovered the electricity meter had been tampered with.

Andrew Jack Kenyon, 22, of Oakenhurst Road, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to abstracting electricity without authority. He was ordered to complete 15 hours at an attendance centre and pay £85 victim surcharge.

Colleen Dickinson-Jones, defending, said Kenyon was away from his flat when two friends came looking for him and this had made the neighbours suspicious.

While the police were checking the house they discovered the meter interference.

"He was in dire financial circumstances when he met a man who offered to bypass the meter for him," said Mrs Dickinson-Jones. "Temptation got the better of him."