THE boss of a reclamation business had two pillar boxes among tens of thousands of pounds worth of stolen goods stored in a lock up.

Sebastian Sorrenti was facilitating thieves by fencing the proceeds of their crime though his legitimate business.

The 23-year-old, who ran Stratton Reclaim, in Kingsdown Road, is behind bars after a judge jailed him for a year and branded his business an outlet for stolen goods.

Stratton Reclaim is now in new ownership.

Police acting on information raided the lock up at a farm, in Wanborough , last November where they found the Aladdin’s cave of stolen property.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the first of the pillar boxes was stolen from the village of Bishopstone in March last year.

Between 5.30pm on a Friday and 11am the following morning the post box was taken from Cues Lane.

At about the same time another pillar box, like the other worth £200 but costing £600 to replace, was cut from its mounting near Aldbourne.

In July last year a set of portable traffic lights hired from A Plant (Lux) Ltd, worth £6,000, was taken from roadworks in Ermin Street.

A few weeks later four stone lions, each two feet high and valued at £600 apiece, were stolen from outside a property in Castle Eaton.

They were all found in the lock up at Little Moor Leaze Farm, near the Commonhead roundabout, along with the proceeds of two thefts from Royal Wootton Bassett .

A number of pieces of wood of unusual types and size were stolen from Vastern Timber Mill and 36 uPVC fully glazed window frames were taken from a site run by Wanes Homes.

Mr Meeke said the stolen wood was worth about £6,500 and the windows had a value in the region of £15,000.

Sorrenti, of Northern Road, Rodbourne , admitted six counts of handling stolen goods.

Hassan Baig, defending, said his client had tried to go straight after his release from prison for drug dealing and had started a business.

He said he had the ability to store things and turned a blind eye to where they came from, which he now realised was stupid.

Mr Baig said his client’s partner gave birth to their first child four weeks ago and becoming a father had also changed him.

But jailing him Judge Douglas Field said: “You were running an outfit called Stratton Reclaim and I am satisfied you were fencing stolen goods therefore facilitating thieves that were active in the area. “This was an outlet for stolen goods being run by you.”