Brainless Leeds burglar who booked taxi to break-ins was 'doing it for his kids'

Career criminal and father-of-two Arron Lally caught the cab with an accomplice to Garforth where they burgled one house and targeted two more.

The 29-year-old ordered the taxi just after midnight on December 11 last year, with him and his partner-in-crime both wearing the face coverings throughout, prosecutor Oliver Connor told Leeds Crown Court.

Arriving just before 12.30am, they first went to two properties on Strawberry Avenue and Witham Way. For the first attempt, the occupant was woken by their doorbell camera alerting their phone.

The occupant went to the window and saw two men fleeing and jumping over the garden wall. It was thought they were trying to gain entry to get the keys for a VW Golf parked outside.

They then went to the second home between 2am and 3am and broke the lock to the back door, but were unable to remove it fully due to the keys being left in the lock.

They eventually got into a home on Kennet Way, where they snatched the keys to an £18,000 Golf parked outside and took off in the car. They also took a handbag and a Sony camera worth £900.

The next day, Lally, of Copperfield Row, Cross Green, sold the camera at Cash Converters on Kirkgate, Leeds, for £300 and signed a document claiming it was his. He also sold a second camera, a Nikon, taken in a burglary on Carrfield Road, Barwick in Elmet, in November.

Lally was arrested and gave a no-comment interview. He later admitted two dwelling burglaries, two attempted dwelling burglaries and fraud my false representation.

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He has 16 previous convictions for burglaries and thefts. Mitigating, Rhianydd Clement said: "He is well aware this will be an immediate custodial sentence and one of some length.

"He is ashamed of the position he is in and accepts he put himself there. He has tried to remain in employment but developed a drug habit, taking cocaine and cannabis. He turned to these offences for money for his children and for his drug habit. He has expressed his remorse and wishes to apologise through me. He does not want to spend the the rest of his life in and out of custody. He wants to spend it being a good father."

The judge, Recorder Mark McKone told Lally: "It's clear you have become a career burglar. There were messages to your partner making reference to 'grafting' [burgling]. Burglary is a very serious crime especially committed at night.

"You made a deliberate decision to cause long-term fear and misery to people, so you can make money without doing lawful work."

Lally was jailed for five years and three months.