POLICE searching for an Aladdin's cave of stolen goods recovered just a pair of black jeans, Burnley magistrates heard.

The court heard several officers and a lot of police man hours went into the operation to search a garage and it's boss's home.

And proprietor Mark O'Hara had been worried that adverse publicity surrounding it may affect his business.

O'Hara, 32, of Metcalfe Street, Burnley, was conditionally discharged for 12 months and must pay £65 costs, after admitting handling the stolen jeans, belonging to River Island.

Andy Robinson, prosecuting, said police had a search warrant and found the jeans, still with the security tag on, at O'Hara's home. He said he had bought them off a man who took them to his garage about 12 months earlier and paid eight or nine pounds for them. Dylan Bradshaw, defending, said O'Hara was the owner of a successful garage business.

Police had gone to the garage, perhaps expecting to recover an 'Aladdin's Cave,' of stolen goods, but did not find any.

At least 12 officers were present during the operation, a lot of man hours went into it and all they found was a pair of jeans at the defendant's home.

They would not have found anything, as O'Hara was in the business of buying, selling and repairing cars and tried to point that out to the police.

O'Hara thought his standing in the local community was such that regular customers and people who dealt with them would not be affected.

Mr Bradshaw added O'Hara got the jeans over 12 months ago and did not really appreciate at the time that they were stolen. He realised something was wrong when he found the security tag was still on.

He accepted that rather than dispose of them or take them back to River Island, he threw them in his wardrobe, intending to throw them away, but never got round to it.

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