TWO men who kicked in the door of a house in Radcliffe in a bid to settle a debt had each drunk 15 pints of strong lager, a court heard.

Nicholas Anthony Gunning, aged 23, of Grassington Court, Walshaw, and Mark Anthony Neary, also 23, of Pavilion Walk, Radcliffe, admitted entering a house in Coronation Road as trespassers and stealing property to a value of £1,090.

Marion Nolan, prosecuting, said the defendants had taken the law into their own hands to recover a debt.

She added that the occupant of the house, who has learning difficulties, had been left deeply traumatised.

The pair had tried the doorbell at the house but then kicked the door open.

They said they had not intended to burgle the property, and the idea was to tell the occupant he could have the items back when he repaid the debt.

Bury magistrates made Gunning subject to a community rehabilitation order for eighteen months and ordered him to pay £43 court costs.

The case against Neary was adjourned until April 11 for a drugs treatment and testing order to be carried out.