TWO men became involved in a bizarre attempt to remove an item from a knife amnesty box placed in Burnley town centre by the police.

Blackburn magistrates heard one of the men claimed he had inadvertently put a family heirloom in the box along with some other blades.

They were caught on CCTV in a subway fashioning a hook out of a child's umbrella and a coat hanger.

They were then seen "fishing" in the amnesty box.

Hughie Morrissey, 55, of Queen Victoria Road, Burnley, was convicted in his absence of attempted theft, going equipped for theft and possession of an offensive weapon, a snooker ball in a sock. He was remanded on bail for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

Neil White, prosecuting, said both men had pleaded not guilty to all charges. The other man was convicted after a trial but Morrissey failed to turn up and was convicted in his absence.

Mr White said that in an effort to reduce knife crime the police had placed an amnesty box in Burnley town centre where people could deposit knives without being prosecuted.

He said at his trial the other man claimed he had put a number of blades into the amnesty box and only realised later that one of them was a family heirloom.

"He said it had belonged to his grandfather and he was trying to retrieve it," said Mr White.

"The co-accused was convicted after trial and give a six-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months.

Mark Williams, defending, said the version of events put forwards by Morrissey and his co-accused was so unusual that there may be some truth in it.

"When they were interviewed separately they advanced the same story," said Mr Williams.

"The co-accused, having deposited several knives in the amnesty bin, realised one of them had belonged to his grandfather.

"He hit upon this idea of fishing it out."

Mr Williams said Morrissey didn't really know what was going on other than it involved a knife belonging to the other man's grandfather.

"He held the flap open while the other man was fishing around trying to get something out of the box," said Mr Williams.

"At some stage he was handed the snooker ball in a sock and asked to look after it and he put it in his pocket.

"That was what he said to the police at the time and if he had turned up at court it may be that his explanation would have been accepted."