A HANDLER of stolen fishing rods and equipment has been jailed for seven months.

Matthew Davis, 37, was on parole from a lengthy sentence for a firearms offence and wounding when police found the items plus stolen power tools at his home, said Brooke Morrison, prosecuting.

They had been taken from the owner’s storage at his workplace during the Christmas and New Year festive period.

The items were worth £2,100.

Davis was also on a suspended prison sentence imposed less than a month earlier for carrying a knife in public.

Davis, of Hallam Close, Filey, pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods and breaching a suspended prison sentence and was jailed for four months, plus three months from the suspended sentence at York Crown Court.

The seven-month sentence started on the day it was imposed.

For him, Stephen Swan said he had been going straight for four years since his release from the firearms and wounding sentence and had made dramatic changes to his life.

Davis regarded the handling offence as his “biggest mistake” since leaving jail.

He had been recalled to prison in February following his arrest for the fishing equipment offence.

He had been behind bars ever since.

Ms Morrison said the owner of the fishing rods and power tools checked his locker at his place of work in Filey on January 4.

He discovered it had been broken into during the festive period. Police linked Davis to the address and his house was searched.

Davis had been given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months on December 7 for carrying a Stanley knife in public.

He was on parole because in 2012 he had been given an extended prison sentence.

He was jailed for seven and a half years, plus a three-year extension.