A JUDGE threw out a case against a man accused of handling a stolen cheque guarantee card which was taken from a woman who worked in a hostel.

Following a submission from defence counsel at the end of the prosecution case, Judge Reginald Lockett ordered the jury to record a formal not guilty of handling against Joseph Michael Parr.

Parr, aged 35, of Railway Street, Atherton, was in the first day of a trial at Bolton Crown Court. He had denied handling the stolen cheque card.

The court had heard that Maxine Daniels was working part-time at the Ascot House hostel in Stockport in July last year.

She left her handbag in a secure room but when she returned 30 minutes later she discovered the room had been broken into and property was missing from her bag.

She found that a Filofax, purse, TSB chequebook and cheque card and a mobile phone had been stolen. Around 20 minutes later one of the hostel residents, Michael Finn, returned all of the items that had been stolen, except for the cheque card.

Parr was later questioned but maintained he had returned the missing cheque card to Finn. Finn admitted stealing the property earlier this year.