A MAN found in a tree after a £20,000 diamond ring had been stolen from a jeweller's has pleaded not guilty to theft.

Harrogate magistrates ordered Malcolm Lewis Shipley, 30, to stand trial at crown court after he pleaded not guilty to theft from Herbert Brown's shop, in Selby, North Yorkshire, on September 26.

Mr Shipley, of Burnside Avenue, Blackpool, was remanded in custody until December 13, when the case is expected to be sent to York Crown Court.

The same man, charged under the name Malcolm Lewis Sheard, pleaded not guilty to two charges of theft, one involving a £10,000 caravan belonging to James Rylands, which was taken from Knaresborough, on February 8, and the second involving a Ford Transit van of an unknown value stolen overnight on January 26.

He also denied receiving the van knowing it had been stolen and pleaded not guilty to two offences of failing to answer bail, at York police station on September 30, and at Harrogate Magistrates' Court on February 17.