Australian man jailed for stealing signed guitars

A court in Australia Tuesday sentenced a man to a two-year jail term for stealing a valuable collection of signed guitars from the house of a music enthusiast, media reported.

The 14 guitars, which were autographed by the music legends such as American rock band The Eagles, American singer-writer Chubby Checker, American rock singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, Scottish-born Australian rock singer-songwriter Jimmy Barnes, were stolen from the Brisbane house of music enthusiast Merv French, 81, last month, the Brisbane Times reported.

Police handed over all the stolen guitars back to the owner Sep 15 but some of them were not in their original condition.

Some had been buried in dirt underneath a home in nearby Lota, and the signatures had been wiped off others.

The breakthrough came after an anonymous tip-off to authorities, a police official said.

Austen Sheffield, 50, appeared in Wynnum magistrate's court in Brisbane Tuesday charged with entering the premises to commit an indictable offence, and an unrelated charge of possessing tainted property.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years behind bars. The guitar collection, valued at an estimated A$30,000 (over $27,000), will now be stored in a more secure location.