A 31-YEAR-OLD heroin addict's attempt to raise cash to fund his habit fell foul of the language barrier.

A court heard that luckless Anthony Dennison stole a PlayStation game only to discover it was a demonstration version in Japanese.

And that was after he had already been caught on CCTV rifling through an empty till and fleeing from the same shop with a PlayStation box -- which also turned out to be empty.

Dennison, of Islington, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to burglary at Gamestation and was sentenced to four months in prison.

He was given a further four months for another burglary of the staff area of a shop on New Chapel Street, Blackburn.

Charlotte Crane, prosecuting, said a member of staff monitored Dennison's move-ments around the store and saw him go behind the customer service desk and then leave the shop.

"He returned for a second go shortly after and this time removed a PlayStation game," said Miss Crane. "Unfortunately for him it was a demonstration model. The instructions were in Japanese and the text on the computer equipment was also in Japanese.

"He told police he had thrown it away in frustration when he realised he had nothing to show for his two failed attempts," said Miss Crane, who applied for £180 compensation for the PlayStation.

Imran Hussain, defending, said his client had a drug problem which he was struggling to cope with.