Mechanic jailed for handling stolen cars

Three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for breaking up stolen cars to be sold on

Mechanic jailed for handling stolen cars
Kestusis Bernotas.

A Yorkshire-based mechanic who handled stolen cars from burglaries including a BMW taken after a raid on a house in Leeds has been jailed for three-and-a-half-years, the Yorkshire Evening Post has reported.

Kestusis Bernotas lived and worked at a lock-up workshop in Dewsbury, where a stolen BMW and Skoda was found during a police raid.

Leeds Crown Court heard how Bernotas’s DNA was found on items inside the BMW when police raided the garage on August 30 2017.

Bernotas handed himself in to police and was charged with handling stolen goods.

He appeared at Leeds Crown Court on January 19, 2018 when a trial date was listed before Bernotas was bailed

Prosecutor, Graham O’Sullivan said in late April 2018 an Audi worth £30,000 was stolen in a house burglary in Doncaster.

Anonymous tip-off

The court heard police received an anonymous tip-off about suspicious activity at a defunct MOT centre in Birstall.

Mr O’Sullivan said police went to that centre on May 8 2018 and found Bernotas, who told officers he was working on his own car.

Mr O’Suliivan said the stolen Audi had been stripped down but police confirmed it was stolen when the chassis number was checked.

Bernotas, of Stonehyrst Avenue, Dewsbury admitted three charges of handling stolen goods.

Ben Thomas, mitigating, said: “He was a man who had a heroin addiction. This was the reason he got involved in this.

“He was working but he was also spending money on feeding this addiction.”

Jailing Bernotas for three-and-a-half-years, Recorder David Gordon told him: “You were a qualified mechanic, using your skills to break up cars, no doubt so the parts could be sold or their identities concealed.”

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