Bradford pair jailed over £10,000 train set theft

Catherine Petty and Shazad Manzoor were jailed at Bradford Crown Court

Two people have been jailed after stealing a model railway collection worth £10,000.

Bradford Crown Court heard Catherine Petty, 38, took the collection from the attic of a man who had let her stay at his house in Baildon, West Yorkshire.

She and her accomplice Shazad Manzoor, 33, sold the train collection to a specialist dealer in Cheshire for £3,700.

Manzoor was jailed for three years and Petty for two years.

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The court heard Andrew Vahter had spent many years building up the collection and had lost about three-quarters of it as a result of the burglary last May.

Prosecutor Camille Morland said a significant degree of planning went into the burglary - Manzoor had waited outside the unoccupied house for about an hour while Petty packed up the collection and other items, including two laptops.

'Kindness and trust'

Jailing Petty, Recorder David Kelly highlighted the victim had been kind enough to give her a temporary home at his house during a troubled period in her life.

"You rewarded that kindness and trust by stealing his precious model railway collection," he said.

Barrister Jayne Beckett, for Petty, said the background to the offence began in London where her client and her husband were being hounded by unlicensed money lenders.

Miss Beckett said Petty ended up with a debt of £4,000 after moving to Bradford and was subjected to a direct threat shortly before she committed the burglary.

Petty, of Beech Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to burglary last November.

Manzoor, 33, of Mansfield Road, Bradford, had denied charges of burglary and handling stolen goods, but a jury found him guilty on both charges.