A MAN has been ordered to pay compensation after stealing almost £400 from a phone box.

Scott Ormston, who appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court via a video link from prison, admitted to stealing the cash from a phone box in Consett in County Durham.

The court heard CCTV had captured Ormston, whose address is unknown to the court, and three other occupants of a BMW car at the phone box before driving through Consett town centre on July 15.

Approximately £264 of damaged was caused to the phone box.

The 28-year-old was arrested after they stopped at Derwentside College and the money was later found in an oven during a house search.

Damage worth £264 was caused during the theft.

Jeff Taylor, mitigating, said: “In the age of mobile telephones we rarely hear of this crime. It doesn’t sound particularly sophisticated.”