Masked burglar from Bramley who threatened to stab woman at Harehills flat is jailed for 12 years at Leeds Crown Court

Ashley Clarke smashed a window before he and an accomplice - both wearing balaclavas - climbed into the ground floor flat in Harehills just after 3am on October 18 2019, Leeds Crown Court heard

Clarke, of Calverley Lane, Bramley, ordered two women in the flat to hand over their mobile phones, which they did.

The court heard a third woman was punched and kicked and threatened at knifepoint.

She was told she would be stabbed if the other two women didn't tell the men the passwords for the phones.

The women gave up their passwords and Clarke and his accomplice fled after taking the phones, along with some jewellery.

Clarke, 21, denied aggravated burglary but was convicted by a Leeds Crown Court jury after a trial.

He carried out the burglary while the subject of a suspended prison sentence imposed for a robbery offence committed at Leeds Bus Station around 10pm on April 9 2018.

Clarke - who was in a group of around ten youths - claimed to have a knife when he threatened to stab a man before stealing his headphones worth £230.

In March 2019, Clarke was handed an 18 month prison sentence suspended for two years for the bus station robbery.

Matthew Harding, mitigating, said: "He is described as a well behaved prisoner who is on his way to achieving enhanced status."

Judge Davis-White QC jailed Clarke for a total of 12 and a half-years.

Clarke got 11 years and three months for the aggravated burglary plus 15 months of the 18 month suspended sentence to be served consecutively.

Police Constable Justin Booth said after the sentencing hearing: "We hope the victims in this case are pleased with the significant sentence that Clarke has been given and that it is of some comfort to them.

"Clarke smashed his way into their property in the early hours of the morning, threatened them with a knife and then assaulted them before stealing their mobile phones.

"He is clearly a dangerous man and the people of Leeds should feel safer knowing that he has been locked up for several years."