Bargain-hunters who buy stolen property are being warned they could face prosecution and a stiff jail sentence.

Detectives in one Bradford police division are clamping down on people who help fuel burglaries by snapping up goods on the cheap from car boot sales, pubs or "friends of friends''.

There were more than 6,300 burglaries across the five Bradford policing divisions in the 12 months to March, and hundreds more incidents of shoplifting.

And, while figures for West Yorkshire during the same period show there were just over 32,000 burglaries, only 390 people were prosecuted for handling stolen goods.

Now detectives at Toller Lane are stepping up efforts to reduce burglary rates by targeting ordinary people who create a black market for stolen property.

Detective Chief Inspector Phil Sedgwick, of Toller Lane CID, said: "We regularly arrest people for breaking into sheds, houses and garages by using scenes-of-crime evidence.

"However, the people who receive stolen property are often harder to catch. We are now making a conscious effort to break the burglary chain by tracking those people down."

DCI Sedgwick said ordinary people fuel the black market by turning a blind eye to the fact property is stolen, so long as it is cheap.

"Some people will always snap up cheap CDs, lawnmowers and so on - even if they believe the goods to be stolen - because it is too much of a bargain to resist.

"The main ways are buying something off someone you know in a pub or through a car boot sale.

"People need to realise they are breaking the law and the courts take a very dim view of people who receive stolen goods."

In extreme cases the maximum jail sentence for handling stolen property is 14 years.

DCI Sedgwick also urged householders to do their bit to break the burglary chain by marking up property with postcodes and addresses to prevent it being sold on the black market.