A DEPRESSED teenage mum resorted to crime in a bid to win back the affections of the father of her daughter.

Burnley Magistrates heard Claire Higson, 19, who has a 12-week-old baby, stole a neighbour's cheque and then handed it over to her boyfriend after he turned up and said she owed him about £2,500 for board and lodgings.

Higson, whose victim was a student, already owed £1,000 compensation after an earlier con-trick involving her partner, who pocketed the proceeds. Her solicitor, who descibed the story as "sad", said she had literally been left holding the baby.

Higson, of Westgate, Burnley, admitted theft and attempted deception. She was given a six-month community rehabilitation order after the bench said both she and the infant needed help.

Andy Robinson, prosecuting, said a cheque book belonging to the defendant's next door neighbour was delivered by mistake to Higson's home. She took one cheque, wrote it out in the sum of £2,620 and tried to pay it into the bank account of another person.

The cheque was stopped after the student found her account overdrawn to the tune of £3,000 and alerted the bank. Higson told police she owed her boyfriend money and it was the only way she could get him back.

Trevor Grice, defending, said before the two batches of offences, Higson had been of good character. She had been in a violent relationship, but felt she would lose her boyfriend and wanted her daughter to know her father because she had never known hers.

Mr Grice said ;" She was absolutely desperate not to lose the father of her baby. If the truth be known, she still has very strong feelings for this man, however much misguided they are."