Twins walk free after £4,000 stolen stash found at home

Police found thousands of pounds of stolen property when they swooped on the home of Ramarr and Ramone Treleven, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The goods had been taken during a series of burglaries in an area close to their address in Baylie Court, Green Road, Stourbridge, explained Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting.

The haul, valued at more than £4,000, included jewellery, electrical equipment, mobile phones, bicycles and games consoles that had been stolen between July 8 and September 16.

A leather wallet found during an initial search of the 20-year-olds' home was definitively linked to one of the burglaries, which allowed police officers to comb the address more thoroughly, the court was told.

There was no proof that the brothers were responsible for the burglaries but both admitted six charges of handling stolen property acquired during the break-ins.

Mr Jon Roe, defending, said: "The property had been bought by them over the internet or in face-to-face meetings. They knew it had not been legitimately obtained because of the prices they had paid for it."

Judge James Burbidge QC told the brothers: "This was almost a business being run by you. It is likely that you became known as people prepared to be dishonest and it is those sort of people who encourage burglars to keep on stealing.

"But because you are young, pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and have served a few weeks in custody while waiting for the case to be settled in court, I will suspend the sentence. I am giving you a chance to avoid a life of crime but if you do not take it, I will be the judge who sends you to prison."

They were each given an eight month period of detention in a Young Offenders Institution, suspended for two years and ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work.