Amnesty bins for thieves to return stolen goods.

THIEVES who wish to atone for their crimes can do so at an amnesty bin to be set up at a Christian festival in Gateshead this summer.

The bins will be at the just10 series of lectures on the 10 Commandments being held every Tuesday evening until June 24 at the Gateshead Central Nursery site in Lobley Hill. Christian speaker Canon J John is inviting people in the region to dump their stolen goods, including unreturned library books, cash in lieu of time skived off work and hotel bath robes, into the bins.

He said: "We steal by being dishonest, by defrauding others, including the tax man, and by defaulting - by not returning what we borrow. Our dishonesty costs employers, companies, the Government and others billions of pounds every year.

"I've done 23 series of just10 and we've had some amazing things put in the bins.

"One man dropped pounds 102,000 cash into them and an elderly woman who'd worked in an old people's home tipped in diamond rings and watches that she'd stolen from residents over a lengthy career."

He said organisers of the event would return library books to local authorities and give the goods to charity shops and any money to charities.