Burglar tricked pensioner to steal car - court

A burglar tricked his way into an 83-year-old man's home and stole the car the pensioner relied on, a court has heard.

Jacob Lee turned up at the home in Bradford in December, claiming to have a delivery of car mats, before walking into his living room and sitting down.

The complainant told Lee, 20, to leave and then noticed the keys to his Nissan Micra had been stolen, Bradford Crown Court heard.

On Wednesday, Lee, who was on prison licence for previous burglaries at the time, admitted two burglaries and was sentenced to two years in a young offenders institution.

Judge Jonathan Gibson was told that the complainant, who has mobility problems, had to use taxis for about six weeks until his insurance company paid for a replacement vehicle.

In his victim impact statement, he said he had been house-bound for a while, which did not help his anxiety, and he had to use taxis to do shopping.

A month before that burglary Lee, who is homeless, had been involved in an early-hours break-in at a Bradford primary school in November.

During that raid Lee and two other men had forced their way into an outdoor classroom area at St Stephen's C of E school and stole tools worth about £800 including a lawnmower and a strimmer.

Judge Gibson said the defendant's early guilty pleas demonstrated some remorse for his offending and it appeared that he may have been put up to the crimes by others.

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