A PROLIFIC teen criminal has been given detention after he failed to complete a comm-unity punishment work-ing with firefighters - as he did not like wearing a helmet.

The unruly 16-year-old boy from Burnley had been sent to Chorley fire station for a week but lasted only a day.

He refused to go back and then "went missing" as he was being hunted by police.

Asked by Burnley Youth Court bench chairman Anne Brown why he would not take part in the Flare scheme, the defendant replied: "I didn't like wearing a helmet. I didn't like the things that they wore. I just didn't like it."

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has now been given the punishment of eight months in custody instead.

The court had been told how the Burnley teenager had been allocated a "very much sought after" place on the project as part of a 12-month supervision order, with a six-month curfew and an intensive supervision and surveillance programme.

But at court, he admitted breaching the order and was re-sentenced after earlier being convicted of breaching an anti-social behaviour order, handling stolen goods, theft and stealing a car.

Sentencing him to a detention and training order, Mrs Brown said the bench believed custody was necessary.

She said the boy had "wilfully and persistently" flouted court orders, drugs had often been involved and he had committed offences on licence.

Mrs Brown told the teenager: "You are a persistent young offender and there is a high risk of you reoffending."

Mark Williams, defending, said police had been looking for the him for an old offence and he went and hid away.