A GARAGE boss, who had parts at his workshop from £136,000 worth of cars stolen across the North West, has been jailed for 45 months.

Burnley Crown Court heard how police found engines, gearboxes, braking systems and other components, stashed all over Riverside Tyres, Rawtenstall, run by Rashid Khan, when they searched it in March.

The cars the parts came from had been taken in burglaries and robberies in Lancashire, Cheshire, Liverpool, Oldham and Manchester.

Two had been snatched in the street after their female owners' keys had been grab-bed.

One robbery victim had been targeted by a masked gang of three men.

The engine from her £13,750 car and most of the rest of the vehicle were at the garage.

The cars taken were relatively new, most were valued between £15,000 and £20,000 and one, an Alfa Romeo, was worth £25,000.

Dad-of-two Khan, of Blackburn Road, Haslingden, who was still in business, with two employees, until the sentence date, had earlier admitted 12 charges of handling stolen goods, between May 2009 and February 2010.

Sarah Booth, proseuting, said the defendant must have been widely known for receiving stolen vehicle parts.

She then continued: “We don’t suggest the cars were stolen to order, but the number of parts suggest he received whichever vehicles were brought to him, either directly or through a third party.”

Khan pleaded guilty on the basis any stolen vehicles or parts taken to his garage were brought in by others and he was not involved in stealing.

John Kennerley, for Khan, said he had been running his own business since 2009, and it got into financial trouble.

Vehicles were brought in to him. He was not aware where they came from.