A KEIGHLEY man has been jailed for 10 months for what a Bradford judge described as "undermining the public confidence in a parcel delivery arrangement".

In Bradford Crown Court, Judge Ahmed Nadim sentenced Sevi Conley, 25, of Aire Street, Cross Hills, Keighley, to prison after he pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods when 63 packages belonging to a delivery company Hermes were found at his home.

A Crown prosecutor explained that between May 9 and May 14 of this year Conley dishonestly undertook or assisted in the retention of stolen goods, namely parcels belonging to Hermes.

The prosecution explained that the goods were taken in a burglary at a commercial premises, which they described as "not very different to a postal business".

The court heard that he was in a taxi carrying a large builder's bag containing stolen property and in a subsequent investigation, 63 parcels were found at the defendant's address.

Judge Nadim said: "Sixty-three parcels of medium value goods were recovered from his property."

As the goods were postal packages their actual value could not be determined.

Judge Nadim said: "This is an underlying offence against a postal service."

The court heard that others may have been involved in handling of the stolen goods, one person whose case will be heard at a later date.

Judge Nadim said: "On May 10, a burglary at a Hermes warehouse premises took place that could not have occurred without some level of planning.

"He (Conley) knew that the goods were very recently stolen Hermes packages that were in effect a diversion of a postal service."

Judge Nadim said that Conley committed the offence while out on licence for serving consecutive offences for burglary, for which he was sentenced for 32 months at Carlisle Crown Court, and for passing counterfeit money, for which he was sentenced for 15 months at York Crown Court.

The defendant's barrister said he was not due to be released from custody until February 2023.

Judge Nadim said that Conley had been charged with 40 offences, resulting in 21 convictions.

"He has relevant offending of a similar nature," he said. "He was on licence, he has previous, relevant convictions, so I could quite easily elevate the defendant into the next category of the offence.

He told defendant: "You were on licence and your offending behaviour is aggravated by your past behaviour.

"You've contributed to undermining the public confidence in a parcel delivery arrangement.

"The value of these parcels may well have run into many thousands of pounds.

As his defence barrister appealed a lower offence, Judge Nadim said: "I'm doing the best I can, but I take the view this was a Category 3 offence."

In his conclusion, Judge Nadim issued a sentence of 12 months, but Conley was given credit for two months served in custody.

Conley also must pay a victim surcharge order.