A DEVIZES man changed his plea to guilty of stealing a mobile phone belonging to a friend of his family, magistrates in the town heard this week.

Nicholas Hodges, 23, of Waiblingen Way, originally denied taking the mobile phone, which he had been lent to make a number of calls.

But when he turned up for the trial at Kennet magistrates' court on Tuesday morning, he decided to change his plea, he said, to avoid the female friend of his mother having to give evidence against him.

Becky Abbott, prosecuting, said that Hodges had gone to the friend's house at about 7pm on July 22 last year.

He asked to use the phone but, as the friend was having trouble with her land line, she offered him the use of her husband's mobile.

The following day he went round again and asked to use the phone, but when told he could, said he couldn't find it where he had left it the day before.

The friend tried to ring it but it was switched off, which she thought strange. A few days later she found the phone's sim card in the house but the phone was still missing.

The court heard that Hodges had been convicted of a number of thefts at Swindon Crown Court in October last year and was still the subject of a community rehabilitation order. He is also still subject to a conditional discharge for theft.

Andrew Eddy, defending, said the case had had an enormous impact on both families, who attend the same church. His client admitted taking the mobile phone with him out of the friend's house and making a number of calls on it.

Mr Eddy said his client had a number of personal problems. He had injured a leg in an accident and was suffering from a depressive illness for which he was receiving medication.

His brother had died last year and he had recently split with his girlfriend who was pregnant with their first child.

Hodges was fined £50 for theft and £10 for breaching his rehabilitation order, and ordered to pay £50 compensation and £50 costs.