Burglar targeted pensioners' home as they slept, court is told

Dale Brammer was only deterred when a light was switched on at the property in Pontefract, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor John Hobley said that 40-year-old Brammer was caught on camera trying the back door of the home on Harrop Well Lane at around midnight on November 12/13 last year.

He was seen pulling at the door handle while carrying a holdall.

He left the scene but came back 30 minutes later and was seen picking up a spade and using the blade to strike the door or its window.

A few minutes later we was seen picking up a pole and using it to "attack the door".

He was then seen leaning in, putting his arm through the smashed glass.

The light was then switched by the elderly couple's grandson who also lives at the property and had been woken up by the noise.

The grandson came out of the property to find Brammer and asked him what he was doing, who told him he was looking for a friend, before fleeing.

An impact statement from the 78-year-old homeowner said the break-in was just one of many incidents that had left them feeling vulnerable.

Brammer, of Ridgefield Street, Castleford, was not arrested until January.

He has 10 convictions for 22 offences, including a previous dwelling burglary

Had been given a community order the week before the break-in for multiple shoplifting offences.

He initially denied any involvement in the burglary, but could not refute the CCTV footage.

He pleaded guilty to burglary and breach of the community order he received for the shoplifting conviction.

Mitigating, Craig Sutliffe said Brammer had fallen into drug addiction and was using heroin and cocaine.

He said: "He did not know what he was doing that day.

"He always maintains he does not recall what happened that night, but he accepts the evidence against him is overwhelming."

Judge Rodney Jameson QC said Brammer would need to go straight to prison as he had done nothing towards the community order he received for shoplifting.

He said: "It was at night, there were elderly occupants who have been significantly affected by what you did. "

He handed him a 26-month sentence.