A man tempted by an offer of £50 from a smartly dressed stranger to flog music equipment found himself in court today after it turned out to be stolen.
Andrejs Smirnov, 39, was approached on the street by the man who offered to pay him £50 to sell the goods at the Cash Converters on London Road.
Smirnov, of Essex Street, Kemp Town, accepted the money and gave his ID when he sold the goods to the pawn shop on Wednesday 1 March this year.
But the police came calling after the owner of the gear, named as Stephan Barnes in court documents, tracked it down.
Today at Brighton Magistrates’ Court Smirnov pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods.
Defending, Siobhan Lawson said: “This involved little or no planning. It was literally a meeting on the street.
“He had no idea where these items had come from and didn’t ask.
“He had fallen on hard times and was tempted and he took the money.”
Prosecutor David Packer told the court that after Mr Barnes conducted his own inquiries at Cash Converters, all the equipment – valued at £1,065 – was recovered.
It included an assortment of five music amps and pedals, a Line 6 Relay G30 Digital Wireless Guitar System, a Mooer Ensemble King Analogue Chorus Pedal, a Source Audio One Series C4 Synth Pedal, an EBS Microbass 3 Professional Outboard Preamp and an Aguilar Octamizer.
Smirnov, who has no previous convictions, was given a conditional discharge for eight months and ordered to pay £85 in costs and a £26 victim surcharge.
The conditional discharge was reduced from 12 months to eight months for Smirnov’s guilty plea.
Magistrates warned him that this offence would be considered in the sentencing of any other offence he might commit in the next eight months.
