THREE men have pleaded guilty to handling stolen antiques worth £5million – among them a £500,000 table from a stately home in North Yorkshire.

Carl Rutter, 46, of Wakefield, Darren Webster, 45, of Leeds, and Brian Eaton, 69, of Barnsley, have pleaded guilty to conspiring to handle £5 million of stolen antiques, taken in raids at Newby Hall and Sion Hill stately homes in North Yorkshire and Firle Place in Sussex.

The £500,000 table, specifically made for Newby Hall in 1775 by Thomas Chippendale, was stolen in 2007, but found in a South Yorkshire garage in 2011.

Det Supt Steve Waite, head of regional intelligence for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “We were immensely pleased and proud back in September 2011 to have recovered these high-value antiques which were described as true pieces of British heritage.

“Today’s plea brings this absolutely fantastic case one step closer to its conclusion. It’s a great result for both the officers involved and the stately homes that were affected by these thefts.”

The valuables were recovered by officers from the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit. The 14 items, which were recovered from Eaton’s home address in Barnsley and Webster’s address in Leeds, have been returned.

The raids also recovered an embellished bracket clock made by Daniel Delander of London in about 1710 and stolen from Sion Hill Hall in Northallerton.

The Press reported at the time of the 2007 theft at Newby Hall how thieves broke into the 17th century mansion, the setting for an ITV adaptation of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, and stole the Chippendale table, escaping minutes before a security guard arrived.

The twin-leaf Pembroke table was commissioned by estate owner Richard Compton’s ancestor William Weddell in 1775. It was described as having worldwide importance.

Rutter yesterday pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court. Webster and Eaton had previously pleaded guilty.

Webster was described by officers as the “lead conspirator” whereas Eaton was responsible for introducing prospective buyers of the antiques to Webster and Rutter.

They will be sentenced next month.