Biscuit-stealing Leeds house burglar who claimed he was Henry VIII detained under hospital order

The resident triggered the house alarm after she heard Gary Bryan enter her property on August 31 last year.

The 52-year-old was given a hospital order, rather than a jail sentence, at Leeds Crown Court after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

The woman had been alone upstairs at her Rawdon home around lunchtime on August 31 last year when she heard a loud bang from downstairs.

Fearing there was an intruder, she went to check on a security camera and spotted Bryan come through the front gate, so triggered the alarm and called the police.

Arriving a short time later, they entered the property and caught Bryan downstairs, having taken a packet of biscuits and a set of spare keys.

He also had a small quantity of the psychoactive drug, spice, on him.

Bizarrely, it was found that he had removed the registration plate from the woman’s car parked outside.

Following his arrest he told officers he was Henry VIII. He also had a screwdriver in his pocket.

Bryan, of Torre Gardens, Burmantofts, was assessed and found to be suffering from schizophrenia. He appeared in court via video link from secure mental health unit.

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The court heard that he has 26 previous convictions for 45 offences, many of them for theft. He was jailed for 18 weeks in 2014 for burglary.

He was initially deemed unfit to plea for his latest offence, but following successful treatment, entered a guilty plea to a dwelling burglary.

Little mitigation was offered by is barrister after it was recommended he be detained in a secure hospital, which the judge, Recorder Ayesha Smart, said she would follow.

Bryan was given a Section 37 hospital order, meaning he will be detained for at least six months for treatment, which could be extended if he is found unsuitable to be released.