A MAN and his mates went to a pub for a slap-up lunch and then left without paying.

Blackburn magistrates heard Terry Maughan was traced by DNA left on a glass after he and his friends enjoyed cocktails, pints and steaks at the White Horse in Turton.

But when he was arrested he refused to name his friends.

Maughan, 28, of Haslingden Road, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to making off without paying. He was ordered to pay £95 compensation and £85 costs.

Tracy Yates, prosecuting, said the landlord was suspicious of the three young men and when they left he followed them out and confronted two of them.

“They said their friend had gone to the toilet and he was paying,” said Mrs Yates.

“There was nobody in the toilets and when the landlord came out they had all gone.”

She said crime scene investigators took a DNA sample from a glass and it matched Maughan. He told police he had been with his mates and they were starving.

Waseem Choudhary, defending, said his client accepted the facts. He had been offered a caution on condition he paid the £95 but had been unable to raise the money.