A MAN caught wheeling eight wheelbarrows across the road in the early hours of the morning claimed that he’d found them abandoned by a canal.

The gardening equipment had in fact been stolen from a nearby B&Q store in Dewsbury, Kirklees Magistrates’ Court heard.

Kirklees Magistrates' Court, Huddersfield
Kirklees Magistrates' Court, Huddersfield

Richard Knowles, of Wroe Street in Dewsbury Moor, pleaded guilty to their theft when he appeared at the Huddersfield court.

Knowles and another man were spotted with the wheelbarrows near to the Wilton Street store at 5am on March 12.

Bill Astin, prosecuting, said: “They had gone missing from the yard attached to the B&Q store which was surrounded by high fencing.

“A member of the public saw the men wheeling the wheelbarrows across the road and, given the time and where it was, thought this was suspicious and called police.”

Knowles claimed that he found the wheelbarrows abandoned by the Ribble Canal next to the site and would have sold them at a car boot sale had he successfully taken them.

Magistrates fined the 40-year-old £80 and ordered him to pay £85 costs and £30 victim surcharge.