A MAN who stole wedding rings two days before a couple’s big day has been given a suspended sentence.

Wayne Roy Gibson, 33, from Aiskew near Bedale, was issued with a 16-month jail sentence suspended for two years after stealing cash from a friend and wedding rings from a couple.

He was charged with two counts of burglary and two counts of fraud by false representation.

He pleaded guilty to all four offences and was sentenced at York Crown Court.

He was also issued with a three-year restraining order preventing him from entering the property where he stole the rings, or contacting the victims and was ordered to pay £140 victim surcharge.

On August 22, Gibson entered an Easingwold home of a family friend, uninvited, and stole cash.

Later that day he was working as a window cleaner at a property in Gate Helmsley, near York, and stole two wedding rings from a windowsill.

The victims contacted Gibson’s employer and when challenged he admitted he had the rings and said he would give them back – despite having pawned them at two separate jewellers in York.

He did not return the rings and Gibson’s boss bought them back and returned them to the couple in time for their wedding.