'If you carry on you will be an old man in prison': Judge's warning to 16-year-old Leeds crime spree burglar

The youngster carried out four burglaries in two days in the Wortley and Farnley area of the city,

The teenager was caught when he was found asleep inside one of the cars he had stolen during the crime spree.

Leeds Crown Court heard the defendant committed the offences with a 15-year-old accomplice.

Rebecca Young, prosecuting, said the pair broke into a house on Cow Close Road, Wortley, during the night on September 9 last year.

The home owner suffers from health difficulties and was asleep in bed at the time.

A window was forced open and the keys to a Suzuki car worth £5,000 were taken from a living room table.

The car was stolen along with electrical devices and bank cards.

A kitchen window of a house on Green Hill Chase, Wortley, was forced open in the early hours of the morning and keys to a Ford Fusion and a Honda Jazz were taken.

Both vehicles were stolen from outside the house.

Miss Young said an 83-year-old man who suffers from chronic arthritis lived at the property with his wife.

They have been left frightened in their own home since the incident.

A house on Western Mount, Farnley, was broken into and electrical items including a PlayStation were stolen.

A fourth house nearby was also also broken into but nothing was taken from the property.

The defendant and his accomplice were arrested later the same day when police found them asleep in the Suzuki stolen in the burglary at Cow Close Road.

The vehicle had been fitted with false number plates but the original plates were in the boot.

Items stolen during the crime spree were also recovered from the vehicle.

The defendant, who cannot be identified, appeared in court via a video link from Wetherby Young Offender Institution.

He pleaded guilty to four offences of burglary and three of theft of a vehicle.

The teenager has previous convictions for burglary dating back to when he was aged 13.

Victoria Smith-Swain, mitigating, said the teenager had been in custody since his arrest.

She urged Judge Tom Bayliss QC to follow the recommendations of a report that the defendant should be made the subject of a youth rehabilitation order to prevent him from offending in the future.

The teenager was made the subject of an 18-month youth rehabilitation and supervision order.

He was also made the subject of a three-month curfew order.

The judge said: "The offences took place at night and vulnerable people were burgled and valuable property was taken.

"Were I dealing with you as an adult, offending like this would have a starting point of six years.

"If you continue committing offences, that is the sort of sentences you are going to be looking at.

"It may well be that you are at a turning point in your life. It really is in your hands.

"If you carry on offending like this you are going to be an old man in prison."

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