The Beatles
© AFP/HO/File

LONDON (AFP) - Nigel Oliver, 55, from Slough, west of London, faced two charges of handling stolen goods for attempting to sell 504 tapes of the historic "Get Back" sessions for the legendary group's final album "Let It Be", released in 1970.

A jury at Southwark Crown Court, south London, on Thursday found that Oliver committed the acts as charged. He had previously been found unfit to enter formal "guilty" or "not guilty" pleas.

Sentencing him at the same court Friday, judge Jeremy McMullen said that if Oliver had not been suffering from a mental impairment for many years and had been convicted at trial, he would have been sentenced to four years in prison.

Instead, he ordered him to be subject to be supervised in the care of mental health practitioners for two years.

Oliver, who worked for The Beatles nearly 37 years ago, was caught in 2003 in an international undercover sting operation set up by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry to recover the tapes.

He was said to be the "middle man" in the operation, organising the sale of the tapes from two unknown men in Amsterdam to two undercover officers named "Sammy" and "Billy".

Police arrested him in a forest near Windsor Park, Slough, on January 10, 2003 while he was waiting for his payment. His cut was thought to be about 150,000 pounds.

Documents recovered from his home included the late Beatle George Harrison's passport, which was originally stolen in the 1980s.

The tapes, which are considered to have huge commercial value, contained more than 200 one-off performances of cover versions of songs like Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" and Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind".

They were made to accompany film footage of the band which was eventually made into the 1970 film "Let It Be".

©AFP