A SHOP assistant made more than £27,000 by selling stolen goods on an Internet auction site, Southampton Crown Court heard.

Thieves, principally drug addicts, turned up at his premises with the unwrapped goods which Rakinder Banga bought for half price.

Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley said the racket went on for two years before police raided his home and seized 41 items including an iPod and a mobile phone. They also discovered he had sold more than 600 stolen items on the auction site.

Banga told them it had become “an addiction”.

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The father-of-three from Shaftesbury Drive, Chandler’s Ford, admitted two counts of handling and one of money laundering.

Giving him a 52-week suspended sentence coupled with 250 hours community service, Judge Peter Ralls QC told him: “You clearly are an intelligent man who has put your life in jeopardy through your stupid actions.”

Banga also has to attend court in April when the prosecution would be applying for the £27,000 to be confiscated.

David Storry, defending, said Banga had succumbed to temptation and it was inevitable he would be caught because the offences were unsophisticated.