TWO men who sold stolen goods at a Weymouth store have been jailed.

Richard Mark Riley and Paul Jason Bartlett were sentenced to one year in prison after admitting a charge of handling stolen goods.

Heather Shimmen, prosecuting, told Dorchester Crown Court that David Wright had a television and DVD player stolen from his property in East Street, Weymouth, on September 20.

Miss Shimmen said that enquiries with the town’s Cash Generator store revealed the two defendants had entered with the items the following day and had been given £40 in cash in exchange.

The pair were arrested and interviewed by police, with each claiming the other was responsible for the stolen items.

Miss Shimmen said: “Mr Bartlett said Mr Riley had attended his address with the items and had asked him to carry out the exchange because he didn’t have any identification.

“Mr Riley had matters the other way round, saying it was Mr Bartlett’s property and he had accompanied him and suspected nothing to be amiss.”

The two defendants both entered guilty pleas to the handling stolen goods charge at the earliest opportunity.

Riley, 26, was also sentenced to seven days in prison, to be served concurrently, for possessing cannabis.

He was discovered with a small amount of the drug on him when he was arrested.

Miss Shimmen said Bartlett, of King Street, Weymouth, was still on licence at the time after he was sentenced to three years in prison in February 2009 for offences of supplying class A drugs.

Riley, also of King Street, Weymouth, had also only recently been released from a four-year sentence imposed in September 2008 for burglary.

Charles Hine, representing Bartlett, 37, said his client had recognised a prison sentence was inevitable.

He wanted to use his time in jail to address the drug problem that was at the root of his previous offending.

Nicholas Tucker, representing Riley, said his client – who also had a drug problem – was taking steps to address his addiction.

As he sentenced the pair Judge Roger Jarvis said: “The plain fact of the matter is you two men are an abject lesson to others as to the danger that is caused by the abuse of drugs.

“All you seem to have done with your lives is commit crimes and go to prison.”