Atherton man tried to 'sell on' cars used in Leigh robbery

Sean Morrison, also known as Sean Smethurst, was brought before Bolton Crown Court  for handling the two stolen cars and for burgling a house in Atherton.

The 29-year-old had burgled the house after its occupant had gone to bed over the night of March 26 and 27 last year, with his television and PlayStation 5 inside just beneath the window.

Prosecutor Andy Scott said: “When he awoke the following morning he found the window had been smashed and his PlayStation and all off his games were missing.”

Mr Scott told the court how blood found at the scene were traced to Morrison but that after being arrested he gave no comment when interviewed by police.

The case was heard at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

He was involved in further crimes in January the following year after two men used an Audi for an armed robbery at a pawnbroker in Leigh.

The Audi had been stolen in a burglary and had false plates attached.

CCTV footage then showed the robbers going to their respective hostels in a silver BMW, which had also been stolen in a burglary in January this year.

Mr Scott said Morrison was not connected to the burglaries or the robbery but that on February 5 this year the same silver BMW was stopped by police on Withington Road, Manchester.

One person ran off from the car while the driver, later identified as Morrison, tried to ram his way out of being boxed in by police.

He was arrested and officers also found the keys to the stolen Audi, which was later found as well, on the floor near him.

When he was reinterviewed by the police on May 2, Mr Scott said he accepted he had had the keys to the Audi on him.

He said: “He also stated it was not usual for him to purchase cars and sell them on.”

Brought before the courts Morrison, who has 21 previous convictions for 30 offences, pleaded guilty to two counts of handling stolen goods and to driving while banned.

But Mr Scott said that he was also due to be sentenced for strangulation and battery after attacking his former partner in February.

He eventually pleaded guilty to both and also admitted to breaching a suspended sentence he had been given for criminal damage.

Andrew Costello, defending, said that Morrison, of no fixed abode, deserved credit for having admitted to all of his crimes.

He said: “His overriding problem has always been his use of drugs and his lack of accommodation.”

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Mr Costello said that Morrison had been “sofa surfing”, was “basically homeless” and that he had been using Class A drugs.

But Judge Abigail Hudson reminded the court of how the man Morrison had burgled has been left “understandably angry, anxious and distressed.”

Referring to the stolen Audi and BMW, she added: “You acquired those cars for resale without any care about where they had come from.”

Judge Hudson said that Morrison had been living a “chaotic lifestyle.”

She said: “The reality is that you need to sort yourself out and you have proven yourself unable to do so when in the community.”

Judge Hudson jailed Morrison for four years and two months.