A man who had his $575 watch stolen during a burglary later spotted it on the wrist of a maintenance man he’d hired to work on his house.Career criminal Ronald Wilson, 38, admitted to handling stolen goods and was jailed for three months for the crime, which took place in summer 2009.Prosecutor Maria Sofianos told Magistrates’ Court the watch was taken during a $160,000 burglary at Robert King’s home on Harrington Sound Road, Smith’s.She explained Mr King and his girlfriend left their home in August 2009 to go on vacation. They asked a friend to check the property daily.Meanwhile, Wilson was hired as a maintenance man to do work outside the residence.When the couple returned home on September 3, 2009 they discovered someone had broken into their home through a window and stolen $160,000 worth of goods.Besides the silver watch and other jewellery, the rest of the stolen property included $7,000 cash, a laptop, a DVD player and an iPod.The police were called in.Ms Sofianos told the court Mr King later spoke to Wilson at his office about the burglary, at which point he noticed Wilson was wearing a watch similar to the one stolen.Wilson tried to hide it and pulled up his sleeve. He eventually handed it over to Mr King, claiming he’d found it in bushes at the residence after the burglary.He said he’d not mentioned this for fear of being implicated in the break-in. Mr King called the police, but Wilson left the office before they arrived.It was not until last Saturday, April 2, that the police caught up with Wilson when they arrested him for a traffic matter. They detained him and interviewed him about the stolen watch. Once again, he said he’d found it outside the home while doing maintenance work.Ms Sofianos told Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner that Wilson, who was homeless at the time of the offence, has a criminal history dating back 20 years.He’s previously been convicted of stealing from West End restaurants Freeport Seafood, Woody’s and Country Squire. He’s also been caught for drug possession and bike theft.Mr Warner made no comment on the crime as he sentenced him to three months in prison plus two years of probation.He meted out an additional three months’ imprisonment to run consecutively, and three months to run concurrently for previous unspecified offences.Wilson must also pay $500 in fines for two speeding offences or face extra jail time.Meanwhile, he denied a charge of stealing a cycle in Pembroke on January 4, 2010. Mr Warner noted he missed a previous trial date, and fixed another for June 30.