'Aladdin's Cave' of stolen goods found at Wolverhampton pub

Among the haul discovered at the Hatherton Arms in North Street was almost £3,000 worth of power tools taken from Carvers and Wicks building supplies and two iPads that had been stolen during burglaries at St Peter's Collegiate School in Compton Park.

Romanian-born Laurentiu Dumitriu runs the pub while his wife is its licensee, revealed Mr Edward Soulsby, prosecuting.

The £1,500 worth of hammer drills and heavy duty equipment stolen from Carvers had been part of a £7,400 haul taken during a burglary of the firm's premises in Little's Lane, Wolverhampton in February 2017, the court was told.

The 34 tools stolen from Wicks in nearby Stafford Road were valued at more than £1,300 and the two iPads had been among 20 stolen during burglaries in May 2015 and 2016, continued Mr Soulsby.

He said there was an 'Aladdin's Cave' of goods in the basement of the pub, near Molineux, which is popular with Wolves fans on matchdays, some of which were still in the original wrapping and pointed out that the two building supplies firms were close by.

The hard drive of its CCTV had been removed preventing police from studying the film to discover how the goods got there.

The prosecutor concluded: "This was a professional and sophisticated offence. The defendant was the 'go to man' if anyone had stolen property in the area."

Mr Andrew Mitchinson, defending, retorted: "No professional receiver would have allowed that amount of goods to build up without selling them on."

Dumitriu, a 42-year-old father of one from North Street, came to this country a dozen years ago. He and his wife have been involved with the Hatherton Arms for 11 years, it was said.

His lawyer continued: "He was offered these goods for sale and saw the possibility of making a few pounds selling them to friends and family in Romania."

The defendant, who had a previous conviction for possession of a pepper spray, pleaded guilty to handling the stolen goods from Carvers, Wicks and St Peter's Collegiate and was given an 11-month jail term suspended for 18 months with 120 hours unpaid work.

Recorder Andrew Willetts told him: "There was a hoard of items of dubious origin stored at the pub. Those who handle stolen goods encourage burglars and thieves."