A TEENAGE girl, who stole from her employers to pay off a £600 phone bill run up by her ex-boyfriend, narrowly escaped jail today.

The 17-year-old sobbed as she pleaded guilty to the thefts, which occurred over several months, from a store in the Cornmill Centre, Darlington.

She 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, defending the teenager - who cannot be named for legal reasons - 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 worth of bills.

"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," he said.

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

Derek Walton, prosecuting, said she had made false refund claims on till receipts, with the money going into her pocket. She was found out by staff and police called in.

She admitted two charges of theft - of stealing £33 and £85 from the store in October this year - and 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.