A 21-year-old Carshalton man convicted of handling stolen goods has been told by a judge to stay out of "silly trouble" or face prison.

Karl Renn of Thornton Road, who was also found guilty of driving while disqualified, narrowly escaped a custodial sentence at King-ston Crown Court on Friday.

Renn was arrested on November 21 last year after two police officers found him in a stolen car which he had bought from a man on the Roundshaw estate for £400.

Nearly a week earlier the keys and the car were swiped from the house of a woman in West Dulwich while she slept.

Judge Richard Behar said: "Handling is a serious offence because without handlers thieves couldn't dispose of their property.

"You've got yourself into a lot of silly trouble in the past but I see that you have never had a community penalty.

"I am not going to send you to prison but if you fail to comply with any of these requirements you could get a custodial sentence."

Renn, who had only two months of his driving ban left, was given a two-year community rehabilitation order, served with an additional year on his driving ban and was ordered to pay £105 in costs.

May 1, 2003 10:00