A MAN who sold a nurse’s irreplaceable jewellery to a gold shop after her house was burgled has walked free from court.

And although Lee Segelov, 34, has been put on a suspended sentence he will not have to do community service.

Segelov admitted handling stolen goods.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how a nurse, who lives on Thresher Drive, Ground-well, was away on a work trip in early December.

A window was smashed and during an untidy search a computer, iPad, two Nintendo DS Lites and numerous items of jewellery were taken.

Although only some of it was valuable almost all of it had great sentimental value and was irreplaceable, having been bought around the world.

Miss Hingston said two days after she returned and found she had been burgled the nurse found some of her property for sale in The Gold Shop on Faringdon Road.

When the police went to the shop they found Segelov had been in within 48 hours of the raid selling pendants, rings and bangles.

At around the same time a house on Greenlands Road, Gorse Hill, was also burgled.

After smashing through the back door the raider took a tablet computer and sat nav which were recovered having been sold to H and T pawn brokers on Bridge Street, again within 48 hours.

Segelov, of Huddlestone Close, pleaded guilty to two counts of handling stolen goods.

The court heard he has numerous previous convictions for dishonesty going back to the year 2000 including robbery and burglary.

After the handling matters, he was given a suspended sentence by magistrates for a commercial burglary and theft.

Alex Daymond, defending, said his client had a long and chequered history of offending, which related to addictions to heroin and crack cocaine.

After being released from prison in March he was put on a suspended sentence with a drug rehabilitation requirement and is now testing negative.

“He is the father of four children. He hasn’t been the father to them he should have been in the past,” he said.

“His partner, who doesn’t now work, is pregnant and there is another child on the way. This defendant has now got employment. It is as a labourer.”

Although he told probation he was not prepared to do unpaid work Mr Daymond said he would if he had to, but with his job, family commitments and appointments on the other order ‘it may be setting him up to fail’.

Passing sentence Recorder Maria Lamb said: “A prison sentence is richly deserved. That is what you are going to get, six months and because you have made, I am told, significant progress I am going to suspend that sentence for a year.”