Mum hid stolen car purchase

Catherine Rogers bought the 2010 Kia Rio for £400 from a private seller, who had in fact stolen it months earlier after breaking into the owner’s house and taking the keys, Wigan magistrates heard.

Rogers was approached by the crooks after they discovered she was looking for a new car when hers was written off.

And the hearing was told that it only dawned on her that she was driving hot property when she found fake licence plates in the back of the car. But she didn’t inform the authorities because she so badly needed the vehicle to ferry her children around.

The 32-year-old from Thirlmere Avenue, Ince, was arrested in connection with the burglary in February while behind the wheel.

Officers reported she claimed to have no knowledge of the incident.

But the hearing was told that Rogers realised the car was stolen shortly after buying it, but kept quiet because she needed the vehicle so desperately.

She later admitted under questioning that she had purchased the car in good faith, but later found the fake plates.

Her solicitor told magistrates: “When she found the fake plates, she panicked and did not know what to do.

“She is full of remorse and she feels stupid.

“She has never been in that situation before and didn’t know how to act.

“She has three young children and she needed the car for them.”

Rogers pleaded guilty to receiving stolen goods and driving without insurance when she stood in the dock before the Wigan justices.

She was fined a total of £315 in costs and surcharges, and had six penalty points put on her driving licence.