AN asylum seeker risked jeopardising his bid to stay in this country after being caught with two stolen Israeli passports.

Zoran Markovic, from the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro, said he was given them for safe-keeping by two local men in Sunderland, where he was living at a hostel, last September.

The passports were found in his possession after a search by police looking for drugs, Durham Crown Court was told.

They were taken from a visiting Israeli couple's car, parked outside Sunderland University buildings, last August.

Markovic, shot in the leg while serving in the Yugoslav militia, fled his homeland to escape the Balkan conflict and start a new life in Britain in July 2000.

The court was told the marine engineering graduate, a former merchant seaman, is now awaiting the outcome of immigration proceedings. He fears the conviction will not help his hopes of being allowed to stay in Britain.

Markovic, 25, now living in a Newcastle hostel, denied receiving two stolen passports, but was convicted after a trial in January.

Deputy circuit judge Denis Orde said he suspected the case had "more sinister overtones".

He imposed a 200-hour community punishment order on Markovic.