A WOMAN who was allowed into a house to receive treatment for a cut to her hand repaid the kindness by stealing a mobile phone.

Blackburn magistrates heard the aggrieved knew Claire Louise Townsend as a friend of his son and allowed her into his home because of that.

Townsend, 31, of Lee Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty to theft of a mobile phone belonging to Jeffrey Richardson and stealing shampoo worth £10 from Poundland.

She was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison suspended for six months and ordered to pay £110 compensation and complete a six months drug rehabilitation requirement.

Alex Mann, prosecuting, said Mr Richardson answered a knock on his door at 9pm to find Townsend bleeding from a cut to her hand.

"He felt he could trust her because of previous meetings and invited her in so he could treat her wound," said Mrs Mann.

"He tended to her injury and then left suddenly. He realised she had taken his phone and she later admitted to police she had sold it to buy drugs."

Gareth Price, defending, said the phone theft preceded the imposition of a custodial sentence.

He said since her release she had been doing well, co-operating with the probation service and avoiding illegal drugs.