A MAN caught dismantling a new £55,000 Mercedes that had been stolen in a house burglary has been jailed for 14 months.

Hawsar Hooti, 25, was working at a garage in Bradford when he was caught by police taking parts off the silver Mercedes S350 on December 6 last year.

Prosecutor Paul Nicholson told Bradford Crown Court that the car had been stolen from Mark Hartley in a burglary committed the previous day, with the car traced to the garage via its tracking device.

Hooti, of Clayton Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to a charge of handling stolen goods.

His barrister, Robin Frieze, said his client was a Kurdish refugee who had been forced into exile in Iraq and sought refuge in the UK.

He said Hooti had struggled to find a job and had accepted some “cash-in-hand” work at the garage having been asked to take the doors off the car.

Mr Frieze said his client, who had no other convictions in the UK, had admitted finding it “strange” to be taking the new car apart, but had “turned a blind eye.”

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, said Hooti had “rightly escaped horrid circumstances in Iraq”, and accepted he had faced difficulty in finding work.

He said: “It is, to put it neutrally, a great shame that somebody here being protected was caught alone, blatantly, dismantling an almost brand-new £55,000 Mercedes that was stolen the day before.

“You knew you were doing wrong. We all know, not just in Bradford, how serious this problem is. There is a real risk, brought about by your own actions, that you may be deported.”