A MAN caught storing £10,000 worth of goods stolen from Bannisters haulage company in Bradford has been sentenced to a community order with unpaid work.

Former employee, Lukasz Czajka, was found to have stashed items including a cordless jigsaw, a socket set, pillows, candles and boxes of trainers, at his address in Fellside Close, West Bowling, Bradford.

Czajka, 39, was originally charged with theft but the Crown accepted his plea of guilty to the less serious offence of handling stolen goods.

Prosecutor Camille Morland told Bradford Crown Court on Tuesday that the goods were stolen between May 2016 and May 2017 by a man who had since died.

Czajka agreed to store them at his home, telling the police he did not realise they were stolen.

It was thought that the thief was selling them on a market stall or an eBay site, Miss Morland said.

Ian Hudson, Czajka’s barrister, said all the items were recovered.

His client had become more suspicious as the list of goods he was warehousing grew longer.

Czajka was a man of previous good character who had an ill wife.

The father of two children, he was now working for a different company.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, said the offending had ended two years ago and Czajka had not been in trouble since.

“You were helping out a deceased but more criminally involved man,” he said.

Czajka was sentenced to a 12 month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work.