A TEENAGER ran up more than £1,500 of mobile phone charges on a 30 page itemised bill on his stepfather’s account.

Michael Andrew Lane, 19, was arrested after service provider O2 blocked the sim card and contacted police .

At Vale Royal Magistrates Court on Thursday prosecutor Tony Smith told the bench Lane had found a spare sim card, which belonged to his mum’s partner, at the family home.

“He put it in his phone and over the course of the month made calls and sent messages to the value of £1,585,” he said.

Chris Johnson, defending, said because there were five teenage boys living in the house at the time, there were always a number of sim cards “lying around”.

“There are 70m mobile phones in this country and most of them appear to be in this house,” he said.

But Mr Johnson admitted Lane had “quite clearly acted dishonestly”.

Because the family had moved from Bradbury Road to a new address on Esk Road, Winsford, Lane did not receive the original court summons.

But after handing himself in to police Lane was arrested and spent the night in custody.

Chairwoman of the bench, Val Godfrey ordered him to pay £1,000 compensation to 02, and £60 court costs.