A prolific burglar was dumped by his girlfriend after she thought he was sharing a bed with another woman.
But instead of cheating on his partner, Dean Yates was in fact breaking into homes in Leeds.
Yates was jailed for four and a half years yesterday after admitting carrying out 30 offences at properties in the city. Leeds Crown Court heard Yates’s partner had kicked the father of two out of their home as she believed he was having an affair.
Yates targeted homes as residents were inside their properties.
On one occasion he even stole the home owner’s trousers which he had just taken off before going to bed.
In another offence he entered a home with two other men as a grandmother was upstairs looking after her baby grandchild. Yates pleaded guilty to burglaries at Billingwood Drive, Rawdon, on October 19, where he stole wine and beer as the residents slept upstairs in the early hours of the morning.
The next day he stole electrical equipment, a flat screen TV and a pair of trousers containing car keys at a property on Udall Road, Rawdon.
Police were alerted after a neighbour saw Yates and his accomplices taken the stolen property from the house at 4.50am.
He also admitted taking part in a burglary at a house on New Adel Lane, Adel, on November 17 and was seen on CCTV trying to break into a house on Water Lane, Farnley, on January 20 this year.
He also pleaded guilty to an offences of dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.
Yates asked the court to take 27 further similar offences into account. The court heard many of those were burglaries at occupied domestic properties. Some date back as far as 2008.
The court heard Yates has previous convictions for burglary and had spent time in custody.
Craig Sutcliffe, mitigating, said his long term partner believed Yates was in the bed of another woman at the time he was arrested and had now “abandoned” him.
The lawyer said: “He is concerned that his family and children do not want to know him.”
Recorder David Wilby QC told Yates: “You have spent a very large proportion of your life passing through the prison system.
He added: “Some of the offences beggar belief.”