Police investigating an alarm going off at a house found a man emptying scrap metal from a skip, a court heard.

Jack Donaghue, 20, was there with a Transit van and a short while later a second man, Timothy Hempsey, 23, turned up.

A search of Hempsey’s van also revealed small quantities of the class A drug cocaine and class B cannabis, as well as a cannabis grinder.

The men, both from Bradford, had been passing through on March 21 when they saw the skip in Harrogate Road, Skipton, containing what they believed was unwanted rubbish, Skipton magistrates were told.

In interview, Hempsey admitted they had not been given permission to take the metal which they were going to take to a scrapyard.

Both men admitted theft and Hempsey also admitted two charges of possession of a Class A and a Class B drug.

Hempsey, of Thornsgill Avenue, Dudley Hill, had 27 previous convictions for 47 offences. He was fined £70 for the theft and £55 for each of the two drugs offences and ordered to pay costs of £80 and a victims surcharge of £20.

Donaghue, of Dudley Hill Road, was of previous good character and was a full-time carer for his father, the court heard.

He was fined £70 and ordered to pay costs of £85 and a £20 victims surcharge.