A jeweller who had thousands of pounds of gems stolen in a burglary got some of them back after spotting them for sale on Facebook.
The victim was left devastated after someone broke into her home and stole jewels which had significant financial and sentimental value. Police had drawn a blank on who was responsible for the break-in but eight months later the victim spotted her bracelet for sale on a local Facebook page.
A court heard she clicked on the profile of the person selling them and saw it was Andrew Craggs and noticed he was also trying to sell various other items belonging to her, worth more than £8,500. Craggs was arrested and was later found guilty by jurors of handling stolen goods.
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As he was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court, the victim said: "Although the case didn't deal with the burglary, the person responsible for trying to sell my property is as involved in the offence as the burglar themselves.
"As a result of this offence my family and I didn't feel safe or comfortable in our home and have now moved out of our house and out of Sunderland, where I've lived my entire life. I'm still not comfortable at work.
"I'm a jeweller but consider collecting jewellery a hobby and it took many years and a substantial amount of money to collect all of these items. I'm at a loss of £30,000 in total and my insurance company would not pay the full value. The items listed for sale were a fraction of what had been stolen."
The court heard that as well as being of high financial value, some of the items were gifts for special occasions and had great sentimental value.
Craggs, 40, of Oxford Street, Low Ford, Sunderland,who has six previous convictions, denied handling stolen goods but was found guilty by a jury. He was sentenced to 12 months suspended for two years with 250 hours unpaid work and he must pay £3,500 costs at £150 a month.
Recorder Ben Nolan KC told him: "You were convicted on abundant evidence, in particular from Rachel Mather, who was an avid collector of jewellery and was able to recognise virtually each and every item of jewellery found in your possession following an attempt by you to sell these items via Facebook. The total value was around £8,500. One can speculate about whether you had more that but that's nothing more than speculation.
"It's often said if there were no handlers there would be no burglars and the court treats cases of this kind seriously."
Tabitha Buck, defending, said Craggs earns £1,600 a month building car seats and has family responsibilities. She added: "He accepts he ought to have taken more consideration before taking things at face value and puttting them for sale on Facebook."
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