A TEENAGER who handled property stolen from his neighbours and then tried to talk the victims out of blaming him is behind bars for two years.

Wasim Mumtaz, 19, was told by Judge David Pirie no course other than custody could be justified for what he had done as each of the offences he had committed was serious.

The judge said to take goods stolen from his neighbours was "particularly unpleasant," and said Mumtaz, of Glen Street, Colne, had not been content with committing two offences but gone on to a third.

He told the defendant, who had threatened the neighbours and written to them trying to persuade them from identifying him, that such conduct struck at the heart of the justice system.

Judge Pirie went on: "There can't be true trials of justice if witnesses are approached in either of these ways."

Mumtaz had admitted handling stolen goods, witness intimidation and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The court was told the property next door to the defendant was burgled and as the raid was being investigated, Mumtaz threatened the occupants over carrying on with their witness statements.

Paul Hague, defending, said Mumtaz had been in very great fear he would be charged with burglary and was obsessive about the potential consequences of being convicted.