A MAN was yesterday cleared of handling tools and plant equipment stolen from a specialist building company.
Leslie Mavin, 39, denied handling thousands of pounds worth of equipment taken from HCL Contracts and Safety, in Langley Park.
About £66,000 worth of equipment was taken in a break-in at HCL's Riverside Industrial Estate, but police later recovered two-thirds of the haul in December.
Mr Mavin, of Pennine Court, Annfield Plain, near Stanley, denied handling stolen goods and was cleared by a jury on the second day of a trial at Durham Crown Court.
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