A HEROIN addict who snatched a 13-year-old boy’s mobile phone has been jailed for 13 months.

Patrick Leggatt convinced the teenager and his friend to help him look for a puppy in Blackburn town centre which had apparently run off.

The 36-year-old then asked the youngster for the time, but as he pulled out his mobile phone to find out, Leggatt snatched it from him and ran off.

Prosecutor Sophie Lorimer, described the offence as “particularly mean spirited.”

Mrs Lorimer said Leggatt had asked the boy and his friend to help find the dog which had wriggled free from its collar and run off.

He ran off after snatching the phone, leaving the boy in tears.

Leggatt, of Walsh Street, Blackburn pleaded guilty to theft of a Blackberry mobile phone and failure to attend regular Class A drug testing.

He was committed in custody to Preston Crown Court for sentence after the magistrates ruled their powers of punishment were insufficient.

Judge Wright, sitting at Preston Crown Court sentenced Leggatt to 12 months in prison for the theft and one month in prison for failure to attend the drug assessment yesterday.

Police recovered the phone from a window cleaner who had bought it off Leggatt for £30 hours after the theft. Leggatt admitted he had immediately spent the money on heroin.

Jonathan Taylor, defending, said Leggatt accepted it was wholly unacceptable behaviour.

“He didn’t set out to commit the offence, it happened on the spur of the moment,” said Mr Taylor. “He saw the opportunity and took it.”

The seven days Leggatt spent on remand have been taken off his 13-month sentence.