Trawden man handled stolen vehicles worth £83,500 (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Trawden man handled stolen vehicles worth £83,500

6:00pm Tuesday 7th April 2009 in

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A MORTGAGE adviser who had a haul of stolen vehicles worth £83,500 at a farmhouse he is renovating has walked free from court.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Jason Phillips, 36, lied to police about the plant and quad bikes.

He claimed to officers he did not know, or believe, the haul was stolen and told them he had bought the six vehicles from a man he believed to be perfectly honest, but who he refused to name.

Phillips, who later owned up, had removed a sticker from a tractor, which had shown it had belonged to a building firm in Langho.

The defendant, of New Laithe Farm, Hollin Hall, Trawden, had earlier admitted six counts of handling stolen goods between April 2007 and August 2008, after asking a judge to indicate what the sentence would be if he pleaded guilty. He had no previous convictions.

Phillips was given a 12-month community order, with 80 hours unpaid work, and must pay £250 costs.

The defendant, who owns a number of properties, will face a proceeds of crime hearing in September.

Silvia Dacre, prosecuting, told the court that last August police found all the vehicles at the defendant’s property.

Last August 18/19, a tractor was stolen from Nicholas Clarkson Construction, in Langho.

It was seen by somebody near the defendant’s farmhouse on August 20, and police found it at the property along with a trailer, two quad bikes, a dumper truck and a digger.

They discovered the vehicles had been stolen from around the country in the previous two years.

The prosecution said the value of the vehicles was £83,500, although Phillips disputed the figure.

The prosecutor said the Crown accepted he bought them for his own use round about the farm. All the items had been returned to their owners.

Philip Holden, defending, said Phillips, who owned a number of properties, was fit and healthy and could do unpaid work.