A MAN ‘should have smelt a rat’ when a stranger approached him in the street and asked if he could take six gold rings on his behalf to a pawn broker.

Instead Joshua Steele, wanting some extra cash to provide for his four-year-old daughter, went to Cash Generator anyway with the jewellery.

However, second hand shops in the town had days earlier been alerted by Wiltshire Police to the theft of six gold rings in a Pinehurst house burglary on September 6. Staff put two and two together and took a picture of the rings and Steele’s ID which they then sent to officers.

And on Wednesday 21-year-old Steele appeared at Swindon Magistrates' Court charged with handling stolen goods for which he was fined £105.

During a previous police interview he denied any knowledge of the burglary.

His defence solicitor, Gordon Hotson, told the court: “He says he was walking in the town centre when a male approached him and asked for a cigarette.

“He then asked him if he could sell the items for him because he had no ID on him. Mr Steele didn’t ask questions, he did not think about it.

“Rather than thinking ‘Hang on, something fishy is going on here,’ Mr Steel said ‘Ok, I’ll help you.'

“He didn’t smell a rat and he ought to have done. He realises that now in the cold light of day.

“He saw this as an opportunity to provide for his daughter.”

Along with the fine, the Boscombe Road resident was handed a 12 month conditional discharge, so unless he commits another crime in the next year he will not be punished.