A DRUG addict who tried to sell a rare £5,000 guitar to a second hand shop settled for just £200, a court heard.

Steven Storer, 30, took a Fender 53 Relic Telecaster into Cash Converters in Basildon three days after it was stolen from a house in Pitsea.

Basildon Crown Court heard the store manager recognised the item was stolen and refused to take it, but it has still not been recovered and is believed to have been sold privately for just a couple of hundred pounds.

Judge David Pugh ordered Storer, of Plumleys, Pitsea, to pay £500 in compensation after he admitted handling stolen goods and fraud.

Joe Bird, prosecuting, told the court the guitar was “so rare it’s impossible to replace”.

He said: “The owner stated there were two things in his life he could not lose, his laptop and his guitar. Unfortunately both items were in the case when it was stolen.

“He’s a working musician and it’s a guitar that he uses for live performances. It was stolen on March 25 and three days later was taken into the shop.

“There is no doubt that the items were acquired for the purposes of buying drugs.”

Storer, who has 11 convictions for 16 previous offences, including theft, burglary and robbery, had a co-defendant who has already been sentenced.

Chris Whitcombe, mitigating, said there was an “element of exploitation” in that already stolen items may have been given to Storer to sell because he was desperate for cash.

He said the crack cocaine and heroin addict had been off drugs and had not committed any other offences after being freed from prison for robbery in 2012.

He said: “He has shown remorse. He wants to keep off drugs and he wants to improve his decision-making skills. He made full admissions in interview having been arrested by the police. He also pleaded guilty to both allegations at the first hearing in the magistrates’ court.”

Mr Whitcombe said Storer only committed the offences after relapsing into drug use.

Handing Storer a 12 month prison term, suspended for 24 months, Judge Pugh said he accepted he wanted to change.

He said: “I know you have had a gap of three-and-a-half years without offending when you abstained from drug use.”

Storer was ordered to pay back £20 a month and complete a drugs rehabilitation course and a thinking skills programme.