A 13-YEAR-OLD boy was forced to break into a house and steal an Xbox games console so he could pay his drug dealer.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, owed the dealer £50 for cannabis, a court was told.

And magistrates heard the youth already had seven previous convictions for burglary.

The shocking case has highlighted the growing problem of children turning to crime to pay for their drink and drug habits.

New figures reveal 500 children a year are being referred to a drugs charity in East Lancashire.

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson said he was 'very concerned' about the number of young people who 'get trapped in a negative spiral of drugs and crime'.

The figures were obtained by the Lancashire Telegraph after the boy pleaded guilty to burglary and failing to comply with requirements of a youth rehabilitation order imposed for one of the previous offences.

Andy Robinson, prosecuting, said the boy was at the party where he met his dealer who took him to a house to steal an Xbox in order to repay the debt.

“He says that having taken an X-Box from the house he gave it to the dealer to pay off his debt.”

Graeme Parkinson, defending, said the boy’s step-father had taken steps to recover the X-Box which had been returned to its rightful owner.

The boy was made subject to a new youth rehabilitation order for 12 months with a condition that for the first six months he lives in a children’s home in Langho.

Speaking after the case at Blackburn Magistrates' Court, Mr Stephenson said the Government and police need to take a hard line on drugs.

He said: “It’s very concerning. We all know that drugs can ruin young lives, and the victims of these drug trades can get trapped into a negative spiral of other drugs and crime.

“Many so-called ‘soft’ drugs like cannabis, that are seen as harmless, can lead to the use of hard drugs like heroin. One thing clearly leads to another.”

Luke Bidwell, area manager at Early Break, a charity operated by Lancashire Drugs and Alcohol Action Team, covering the East Lancashire, said it was 'very worrying' that youngsters are running up drug-related debts.

He said: “It’s not the norm for this to happen, but we have had a couple experiences.

“That’s why it’s really important to put the message out there that there are services to help.”

He added: “It’s not common to get children of 13 or younger to be referred to us, it’s usually 15 to 16 year olds who are using cannabis.

“Alcohol and cannabis is readily available to anyone, and youngsters tend to experiment. They can be curious when people in friendship groups start trying cannabis or alcohol.

“Young people also use drugs in a different way to adults. Adults tend to have problems with heroin, crack cocaine, and alcohol, but the young people we see are mainly using alcohol and cannabis.

“The adult population also tends to be addicted, whereas youngsters might do more than one substance in a session.

“We’ve found that people smoke cannabis for different reasons. They might like it, or they might say that it helps them cope or sleep.”

Early Break takes referrals from youngsters themselves, parents, schools and key workers, and tailors a service for the individual, which can involve education on drugs and their consequences, one-to-one sessions, meetings with parents, accupuncture and massage.

Luke said that 75 per cent of youngsters the charity works with achieve their end goal, which could mean becoming drug-free or only using occasionally.

He said: “Last year we had 500 referrals, which is a slight dip on 560 from the year before. We actually don’t think that the problem is decreasing, but that because of the cuts to services throughout the county, there are not as many people making the referrals.

“Nationally, user figures are going down, but we know that there is certainly a need for our services here.”