A CROOK from St Albans caught with valuable antiques stolen from a home in Brookmans Park escaped jail today, although his accomplice is already serving a nine-month sentence.

Sean Cross, 24, of Chalkdell Fields, St Albans, received a 39-week suspended sentence at St Albans Crown Court , 100 hours community service, and two years supervision by probation.

Along with Mark Darwood, 21, formerly of Hatfield Road, St Albans, who was sentenced at an earlier hearing, he was caught in a van in Ashley Road with collectable coins, part of a £50,000 haul of antiques burgled in December.

Eighty antique spoons and a gold spoon they sold to an antiques dealer have been recovered but several decorative plates are still missing.

Speaking after Cross, who like Darwood admitted handling stolen goods, was sentenced today, Detective Sergeant Ruth Woolway said: “ I am delighted most of the property has been recovered and reunited with its owner.

“If Cross commits an offence in the course of the next two years he will go straight to prison. I hope this case illustrates that Hertfordshire Constabulary takes the issue of handling stolen goods extremely seriously and deals robustly with those responsible.”