A CAREER burglar used his family connections to get a young mother to sell some of his stolen goods for him, York magistrates heard.

Michael Hester, who was jailed for four years last month and has 145 previous convictions including many for house raids in York and North Yorkshire, persuaded his nephew’s then partner, Jessica Milburn, to take jewellery stolen in a burglary to Moneyshop in Low Ousegate, said defence solicitor Mark Partridge.

The burglar paid Milburn £40 for handling the gold and pocketed the £384 she got for selling it. She ended up in court after police found the sale ticket with her name, address and date of birth in Hester’s home.

Milburn, 20, of St Paul’s Mews, York, pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods and was ordered to do 12 months’ supervision, after a probation officer told them she needed guidance. She must also pay £384 to Moneyshop, plus a statutory surcharge.

Mr Partridge told the court she was no longer in a relationship with Hester’s nephew, and that she has a two-year-old child to look after. She had one previous conviction.

Cathy Turnbull, prosecuting, said police arrested Milburn as part of their investigation into a series of house raids. She told them she had acted as a handler for Hester three times by taking items to Moneyshop, where she had claimed the jewellery was hers.

Police had found the jewellery she had sold at the shop and returned it to its owner. Mr Partridge said Milburn didn’t know for sure that the jewellery had been taken in a burglary but was “more than suspicious” that it didn’t belong to Hester.

• Hester was first convicted in 1986. Before his latest sentence imposed for a Scarborough burglary, he had served a four-and-a-half year prison sentence imposed for more than 30 night-time burglaries in York and a sentence of just under three years, also for burglary.