Pair of burglars preyed on family homes in Leeds

Leeds Crown Court heard one victim was struck in the face when he went to challenge raiders after they forced their way into his family home.

A young woman at another property was told she would be stabbed unless she got out of the gang’s way.

Lee Cunningham, 28, and Kelsey Thompson, 29, were involved in the burglary of a house on Woodley Lane, Meanwood, on February 16 this year. A woman who lived at the address arrived home at 10.20pm to find one of the men stood on the driveway. She initially thought it was a takeaway delivery driver until she saw another man run out of the front door carrying items from the property including an iphone, cash and keys to a van parked outside. The woman ran inside the house and alerted her father who went to stop the men from driving away in the van. They then made off in a car parked nearby. The gang targeted a house in the early hours of the following morning on Stowe Grove, East End Park. A burglar alarm was activated and a man who lived there was struck in the face with an object when he went to challenge the gang. He suffered cuts to his nose and cheek.

Threats were also made with a knife and screw driver. The gang drove off in the family’s Ford Mondeo.

Cunningham, of Poole Crescent, Cross Gate, and Thompson, of Scargill Grange, Burmantofts, pleaded guilty to two offences of burglary and theft. Thompson also pleaded guilty to common assault. They were both jailed for four years, eight months. Judge Mushtaq Khokhar said: “What makes this very serious indeed is the confrontation with the occupants of the premises.”