A judge has returned the case of three men who stole a farm vehicle in a burglary to the magistrates’ court.

Joby Ayres, Damon Glover and Tyson Webb admitted taking the John Deere Gator from the White Horse Equestrian Centre in Westbury.

And after hearing that the Crown may seek a confiscation hearing from the men, the justices sent the case to Swindon Crown Court.

Now, after hearing that prosecutors no longer sought to pursue the men for their benefit from the crime, a judge said the case should be sent back to the magistrates.

Ayres, 23, Glover, 27, and Webb, 23, all pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary where they stole the vehicle worth about £5,000.

The offence took place at the equestrian centre at Newtown in Westbury on Wednesday June 22.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, said magistrates ruled they would have passed sentence had it not been for the suggestion there would be a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

She said the men had been in possession of the vehicle, which was returned, and they each could have been pursued for the value of it under the draconian law.

Judge Douglas Field said “On the basis there will be no proceeds of crime application I remit each of your cases to the North West Wiltshire Magistrates Court for sentence.”

He released Ayres, of The Pine Caravan Site, Frome, Glover, of Trinity Street, Frome, and Webb, of Oaktree Field Caravan Site, Salisbury, on bail to Friday August 19.