A 21-YEAR-OLD Droitwich man who used a stolen cheque to buy pizza has been sentenced to 12 months in prison but has walked free.

David Shire was sentenced after admitting handling stolen goods and obtaining property by deception.

However, he walked from Worcester Crown Court on Wednesday after the judge heard he had already served six months on remand.

The court heard how Shire, of Camp Hill, had been found in possession of a number of items stolen from a house off Bath Road in Worcester in September last year.

Peter Tooke, prosecuting, said: "A member of staff at Clarendon House Hostel in London Road, Worcester, where Shire was staying at the time, found a large quantity of items in a cupboard."

He said they called the police and the items were soon identified as being stolen.

Shire told police he had bought them from a man just two days earlier and planned to sell them on.

Mr Tooke said that a few days after this incident, Shire was caught using a cheque from a cheque book stolen in the same burglary.

"The defendant ordered a takeaway pizza costing £31.49," he said. "The next day, he was arrested on an unrelated incident. Police then recovered the stolen cheque book."

The court heard that just one cheque had been used from the book.

Shire was sentenced to 12 months in prison for handling stolen goods and a further three months, to run concurrent, for obtaining property by deception.

He will now serve the remainder of his sentence in the community.