A MAN and woman have admitted handling stolen goods after £6,000 worth of personal belongings were stolen in an Upper Eden burglary.

Valuable clocks were among the loot taken from a house in Brough, near Kirkby Stephen, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

Lancaster man Callum Brannon, 26, appeared in court earlier this year and admitted burgling the village home during December 2020.

He is currently awaiting sentence for that offence and also the illegal possession of two electrical stunning devices found by police when they arrested him.

Two other people were also charged during an investigation by officers.

And in the crown court dock on Friday, Ralph Brook, 51, and 52-year-old Joanne Thilwind both admitted handling stolen goods during a two-month period after the burglary, around the turn of 2021.

These items were a number of antique clocks taken during the trespass.

It was confirmed in court that the total value of items taken in the burglary was £6,000. A prosecutor said he was not yet able to say how much the antique clocks were worth.

Both Brook, of Tullie Street, Carlisle, and Thilwind, of Prospect Street, Lancaster, have put forward a formal basis for the tendering of their guilty pleas to the handling charge.

Brook’s version of events is not currently accepted by the prosecution.

A judge concluded that an additional hearing would be needed to decided how the case should progress before sentences are handed down.

That will take place at the crown court on October 2, when the case of Brannon, of Howgill Avenue, Lancaster, will also be mentioned.

In the meantime, all three defendants are on unconditional bail.

The court also heard Brook had been handed a lengthy prison sentence for separate offending since his handling crime had been committed.

A report prepared by the probation service stated that he had been making good progress in the community since being released from custody.