Bungling balaclava-wearing raiders dressed in police vests smashed up wrong Castleford home
A gang of bungling armed raiders dressed in police vests smashed up the wrong home in Castleford over a money dispute.
Akbar Hussain was jailed this week for the botched mission in which the group armed themselves with hammers and crowbars.
They attacked the wrong home, smashing its windows before realising their mistake and targeting the property next door.
Hussain was heard to shout at the occupant: “Where’s my money?”
Th 39-year-old, who has a long criminal record, was originally charged with aggravated burglary but the lesser offence of violent disorder was deemed acceptable to the Crown.
Leeds Crown Court was told that a witness spotted a silver Mazda 3 pull up on Broadmead in Castleford at around 11pm on May 8.
Around four masked men then exited, with one seen to be carrying a hammer, and they were all wearing police-issue vests.
They ran through a cut-through onto Edendale where they targeted the home, putting the windows through.
One was then heard to say: “We’ve got the wrong house.”
They then switched their attention to next door, getting in through rear patio doors.
The police arrived while some of the gang were still in the property, including Hussain.
He tried to flee through the back garden and scale a fence, but was Tasered by an officer and arrested.
He later told police he thought the occupants were drug dealers who had got his family involved, but this was later rejected by the Crown and the judge.
Hussain, of Holme Lane, Tong, Bradford, has 50 previous convictions for 78 offences dated between 2001 and 2022.
They include dishonesty, violence, public disorder and driving offences.
A probation report read to the court suggested Hussain, who works as a scrap-metal dealer “let his emotions take over” and he apologised his his actions.
His barrister, Simon Hustler said he had been held in custody since May.
Judge Simon Batiste jailed him for three years and said: “It must have been a terrifying incident where a number of men with balaclavas and weapons were smashing their way into a property.
“Whether they owed you money or not is irrelevant, it still would have been frightening.”