A VENGEFUL ex-boyfriend ran up a large mobile phone tab and left his ex-girlfriend with the bill, a court heard yesterday.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stole from her employers to pay off the £600 bill and narrowly escaped jail yesterday.

She sobbed as she pleaded guilty to the thefts, which occurred over several months, from a store in the Cornmill Centre, in Darlington.

The 17-year-old was spared a custodial sentence after the town's youth court heard how she had resorted to desperate measures to pay off huge debts which were not of her making.

Peter Boddy, representing the teenager, said it was an extremely sad case.

He told the court that the girl's former boyfriend had made off with the SIM card from her Orange mobile phone, leaving her with £600 of bills.

Mr Boddy said: "She contacted Orange, who were most unsympathetic, and said they would take her and her uncle, who was guarantor of the account, to the civil courts if the bill was not settled."

Eventually, the youngster, who is from Darlington, resorted to stealing from her workplace to pay off the bill.

Derek Walton, prosecuting, said she made false refund claims on till receipts, with the money going into her pocket.

She was found out by staff and police were called in.

The teenager admitted two charges of theft, of stealing £33 and £85 from the store in October this year.

She asked for 13 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

Mr Boddy said: "She was trying to be independent. She dealt with it in her own way, but she realises it was the wrong way.

"She resorted, in desperation, to what was a foolish and dishonest course of conduct."

The girl, who had only told her mother of the situation the night before she appeared in court, was told by magistrates that she had come close to being jailed.

She was given a nine-month referral order, ordered to pay £118 compensation and £60 towards the costs of the case.