Crime spree duo hit victim with crowbar

Bradford Crown Court heard how Lee Woodhead and Brandon Wadsworth attacked homes in Calderdale in September.

Prosecutor Tony Kelbrick said most of the offences were so-called Hanoi burglaries which involved the theft of keys for vehicles.

“The house burglaries were all committed at night and committed while the owners, and sometimes their children, were asleep in bed,” he added.

The court heard how the burglars stole a handbag and its contents from a house in Bairstow Lane, Sowerby Bridge on September 7.

On September 12 they used a car aerial to push out a door key which was then “fished” through the lettbox so they could get into a property in Newlands Gate, Warley, Halifax.

A Kia Optima vehicle was then stolen from that home and on the same night the intruders stole a Smart 4x4 and a Peugeot 308 from a house in Towngate, Sowerby Bridge.

The last burglary took place at a farmhouse in Halifax while the occupants were asleep and the burglars escaped with a Volvo XC90.

A Queensbury man was hit over the head with a crowbar during an attack by the robbers outside his home. The court heard how Michael Charles had just parked up his Mitsubishi L200 when another vehicle pulled up and one of the occupants asked him the time.

Mr Kelbrick said while Woodhead distracted Mr Charles one of his accomplices hit their victim over the head with the crowbar.

The 20-year-old, of no fixed abode, was locked up for a total of 41 months after he admitted the robbery charge and a further allegation of conspiracy to burgle.

Accomplice in the four house burglaries, Wadsworth, 20, also of no fixed abode, was sentenced to three years in custody after he also admitted the conspiracy charge.