A MAN who bought a rabbit hutch to house his wife’s chicken knew the hutch was stolen, magistrates in Swindon heard.

Kevin John Bulmer, 28, of Northampton Street, Swindon pleaded guilty to dishonestly taking possession of the hutch on June 14 this year.

He also pleaded guilty to a charge of interfering with a motor vehicle with the intention of stealing it on March 20 this year when he was in court yesterday.

Prosecutor Keith Ballinger told the court the rabbit hutch, containing a rabbit, belonged to Drove Primary School. It was kept in the school grounds for the benefit of the children.

The children were very distressed when it was stolen, the headteacher told police after the theft.

The school grounds are separated from the gardens of Northampton Street by a wall and the school had a history of problems from the Northampton Street residents, Mr Ballinger said.

CCTV footage taken on June 14 showed two men taking the rabbit hutch over the wall, with the rabbit, inside but the quality of the recording was not of good enough quality to identify the thieves.

A few days later when the school’s site manager was picking up litter near the wall he saw the rabbit hutch in the garden of the Bulmers’ house in Northampton Street.

The police recovered the hutch from the garden but the rabbit was no longer inside, Mr Ballinger told the magistrates.

Mark Glendenning, defending, said Bulmer’s wife wanted to keep a chicken and Bulmer had bought one but told a friend he had nowhere to keep it. The friend said he would get him a rabbit hutch for it.

Bulmer accepted that he had handled the stolen hutch and had turned a blind eye to where it had come from, Mr Glendenning said.

The prosecutor told the court that in March police went to Northampton Street after a stolen car, a Nissan Cabstar, was reported to be parked outside Bulmer’s house.

The officers saw two men working on the vehicle and Bulmer was inside the house.

When the car was examined Bulmer’s fingerprints were found near the steering wheel. When interviewed he made no comment, Mr Ballinger said.

Bulmer was sentenced to a 12-month community order with the requirement that he complete 60 hours of unpaid work for handling the hutch and 60 hours for interfering with the car.

He was ordered to pay £50 compensation to the school and to pay court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £50.