A mechanic who used stolen car parts to fix up written-off vehicles to sell has been spared prison.
Brian Robinson "created a market for burglars" by handling car parts worth thousands of pounds, which were stripped from vehicles stolen in house burglaries. Newcastle Crown Court heard four cars sold by Robinson online were found to contain parts from vehicles which had been stolen.
Joe Hedworth, prosecuting, told the court: "On four occasions the defendant purchased accident-damaged vehicles at auction to match stolen car parts removed from vehicles already stolen in burglaries. The vehicles were purchased according to available stolen car parts and he resold the accident-damaged vehicles via Gumtree."
Read more: Gateshead teen saved mum from murderous attack by her dad by stabbing him in the head
A Honda Jazz was stolen in a house burglary in June 2018 and the insurance company paid the owner £7,000. A similar vehicle which had been damaged was later repaired using stolen cars from the first vehicle and sold by Robinson for £3,000, below market value.
In July 2018 a Nissan Qashqai was stolen and insurers paid out more than £11,000. A similar car sold by Robinson on Gumtree a month later for £8,000 was found to contain stolen parts from the first car. The same month, a Nissan Qashqai and Juke were stolen and a similar Nissan Juke sold by Robinson for around £6,000 contained stolen parts.
Then in September 2018 a Hyundai ix35, which insurers paid out £11,000 for, was stolen and a similar vehicle was sold by Robinson, again containing stolen parts. Prosecutors say the stolen parts, when new, would have been worth around £37,000 while Robinson's legal team argued the value was closer to £6,000 and a judge said it would have been somewhere between the two figures.
Robinson, 52, of Augustus Drive, Bedlington, Northumberland, who has 13 previous convictions, including robbery as a youth and possessing a false instrument in 2008, pleaded guilty to four counts of handling stolen goods and was sentenced to 12 months suspended for 18 months with 200 hours unpaid work and a three month curfew between 9pm and 6am.
Sentencing him, Judge Tim Gittins said: "Whether your potential customers knew the vehicles had been repaired from being insurance write-offs is another matter. You, as the handler, created a market that means people steal items and burgle premises.
"In reality it's the knowledge of the primary offences and the fact these cars were being stolen from house burglaries that the aggravating feature here, not the value. The fact is, the whole car had to be stolen for you to get some of those parts from them.
"You were engaging with other criminals and I accept that caused a level of fear in who you were working with."
Steven Reed, defending, said Robinson is married with two children and runs his own business and works six days a week. He added that he has caring responsibilities and responsibilities as an employer and has been in no further trouble since the offences in 2018.
Read next:
- Morpeth pervert with 'Jimmy Savile' email address had vile abuse images including torture and rape
- North Shields rapist who struck hours after victim suffered miscarriage jailed for ten years
- Disgusting Sunderland thug who spat in the faces of nurse and police officer jailed
- Scotswood dance teacher who assaulted boyfriend while on suspended sentence for GBH walks free
- South Shields woman left partner with deep knife wounds to hands in row over TV news story
