A North Yorkshire landowner caught a thief who stripped rare Cumbrian blue tiles from his property, a court was told yesterday.
Sir Richard Wombwell, of Newburgh Priory, in Coxwold, near Thirsk, spotted a suspect vehicle at late evening in the grounds of Mount House, on his estate.
He found that slates had been stripped from the outbuilding and were stacked on the ground. The next morning he saw a red Bedford van with two men inside. One man ran off but the other stayed with the broken-down vehicle which was loaded with tiles.
Sir Richard ordered him to unload them and he called the police, said prosecutor Greg Purcell.
Donald Rogers, 33, a turkey farm worker, of York Road, Thirsk, was put on probation for 12 months at Teesside Crown Court yesterday, after he pleaded guilty to the July 14 theft.
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