A self-employed businessman was found in possession of a £3,250 antique table just hours after it was stolen in a smash and grab raid.

Police discovered the Edwardian ladies' writing table in a van belonging to 36-year-old Arthur Arnold.

He told a jury at Worcester Crown Court that two strangers delivered it to his home and asked him to take it to Birmingham.

But Arnold, of Orford Way, Malvern, was convicted of handling stolen goods.

After the verdict it was revealed he had a record which included handling, theft, burglary, criminal damage and making false statements to obtain benefits.

Judge Michael Mott granted him bail while a pre-sentence report is prepared. His accomplices will be sentenced with him at a date to be fixed.

The court heard how Malvern Studios in Cowleigh Road, Malvern, were burgled on the night of April 3 this year.

Prosecutor Malcolm Parkes said 11 hours later the mahogany table was taken to Arnold's home and concealed in his Luton van.

The suspicions of an off-duty police officer were aroused when he saw two men looking at books on antiques in Malvern's library.

He reported the information to the police station and officers went to Orford Way, where they saw the pair's Ford Sierra parked outside Arnold's house.

PC Michael Westbrook said the table was in one of Arnold's vans which had the motif ABC Removals on it.

At first Arnold, who advertised his business in local newspapers, claimed he told the two men who brought the table he would deliver it next day. But in a police interview he changed his story and said the men wanted to hire his van and had left to get the £50 hire fee and a driving licence.

He said he thought the table was reproduction furniture and of no great value.