Lorry driver Michael Wheddon bought thousands of pounds worth of building equipment at car boot sales without realising it was all stolen, a court heard.

The 26-year-old former builder said radiators, doors and double-glazed windows found by police at his home were all picked up at sales at knock-down prices from sellers he thought were genuine.

All the equipment had been stolen weeks before from building sites in the Banbury area and snapped up by Wheddon, who was carrying out building work at his home in Gullicote Lane, in nearby Hanwell, in July and August.

Police seized the equipment in a raid on the house last November, and also found a stolen JCB mini-digger and its trailer, belonging to a Banbury hire firm, and a stolen plastic oil tank.

Wheddon, who had to remove two of the windows from his house extension and hand them over to police investigating the case, denies three counts of burglary, two of theft and five counts of handling stolen goods between July and November last year in a trial at Oxford Crown Court.

Yesterday the court heard the prices charged for the goods were lower than normal, but, when cross-examined by Miss Jane Alt, prosecuting, Wheddon said he was not suspicious.

"I just thought it was what people told me," he told the court, "and I didn't think there was anything dodgy. I paid a fair price at the going rate."

The case continues.

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