A fingerprint linked a Wheatley man to a caravan stolen from outside the victims’ home.

That mobile home was discovered within hours of the theft in the early hours of December 21, 2021, Oxford Crown Court heard.

Officers from the rural crime team discovered it parked up outside James Maughan’s mobile home at Middle Ground caravan site in Wheatley.

The 61-year-old  was arrested two months later, in February 2022, when an LG television and Amazon Firestick stolen from the caravan were discovered in the back of his white Ford Transit van, prosecutor Kellie Enever told Oxford Crown Court this week.

Maughan’s fingerprint was found on the TV by police specialists.

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He was charged with theft of the caravan, but convicted at the magistrates’ court in September of handling stolen goods.

In a victim personal statement read to the court by Ms Enever, the caravan’s owner said she had been pleased to have the vehicle returned. “However, it no longer feels like our own property,” she added.

When the case was committed to the crown court for sentence last month, District Judge Kamlesh Rana was told that Maughan maintained he was not responsible for the offending.

On Monday (October 9), he was given a 15 month jail sentence suspended for two years by Recorder Andrew Mcloughlin. As part of the sentence, he was handed a five month curfew.