A VICTIM of crime today slammed the "pathetic" justice system after he was left £500 and a car out of pocket while the man who ripped him off walked out of court £170 better off.

Richard Moggeridge, from Blackburn, was left £500 out of pocket, minus his "brilliant" car and was forced to travel to work in Manchester on the bus after his car was stolen.

But he says the man caught stripping his car was given a "pat on the back".

Eric Askey had paid a man in a pub £60 for the stolen car and then transferred parts to his own vehicle but walked out of Blackburn Magistrates Court with a reduction in the amount of fines he owed for past crimes.

Askey, 22, of Woodvale, Darwen, pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods. He was given a conditional discharge for 18 months and ordered to pay £30 costs. The magistrates made no order for compensation and wrote off £200 of the £620 he already owed the court.

"It's not justice at all," said Mr Moggeridge, who is in the process of setting up a video games rental business which will operate from a shop in Ainsworth Street, Blackburn.

"My debts are spiralling with the new business and it would be nice if someone would just knock £170 off every now and then. That just doesn't happen when you are honest and law abiding."

Mr Moggeridge revealed that he had bought the Rover Metro from a family friend for £500 just four weeks before it was stolen from outside his house.

"It was 10 years old but it had only done 30,000 miles and it was absolutely brilliant," he said.

"At the time I was working in Manchester and I remember thinking on the bus one morning if the person who had taken my car had given any thought to what it had meant to me.

"It doesn't seem as though the magistrates have given the victim much thought in this case."

Neil White, prosecuting, said Mr Moggeridge had gone to drive to work on a Saturday morning in May and found his car missing. A short while after police saw two Metros parked side by side and Askey was in the process of removing the wheels from one and putting them on the other.

Michael Blacklidge, defending, said Askey had been to several scrap yards looking for a new windscreen for his car but thought the price was "fairly steep".

He said word of mouth around the pub led to someone approaching him and saying they heard he was looking for a Metro.

"Certain arrangements were made and a couple of hours later he received a phone call and the car was delivered to him," said Mr Blacklidge.

"He accepts that he turned a blind eye."

A spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, said the court case was another example of the justice system ignoring the effect of crime on motorists and suggested magistrates did not consider car crime-related incidents to warrent serious punishment.

He added: "Effectively, the man who perpetrated a serious offence has been treated by the court like a 'naughty boy' and been given a slap on the wrist. People are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the effectiveness of the justice system when dealing with motorists."