'People are entitled to feel safe': Burglar locked up over spree of attempted West Yorkshire house break-ins

Curtis Child was sent to prison for 14 months after a court heard homeowners were disturbed as they were in bed during the offences in Normanton, near Wakefield.

Leeds Crown Court was told Child committed four offences on the night of June 8 and 9 this year while he was under the influence of drink and drugs.

Grahame O'Sullivan, prosecuting, said Child first targeted a family home on Snydale Road while the family who lived there were in bed.

The 24-year-old defendant tried to enter through a side door before smashing a patio window with a brick.

Child left without taking any property.

The parents who live at the address later provided a victim statement to the court describing how they now feel unsafe in their home.

They said it would have been obvious to Child that children would have been in the house as there were toys and play equipment in the garden.

An attempt was made to get into another house nearby before a property was targeted on Western Gales Way.

Child again left empty-handed after a confrontation with the homeowner.

More than £2,000 worth of damage was caused during the incidents.

Child, of Redhill Avenue, Castleford, pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted burglary.

He has two previous convictions for non-dwelling burglaries.

A probation officer told the court Child committed the offence during a two-week period when he was abusing drink, amphetamines and cocaine.

Recorder Darren Preston told Child that the offending was too serious to impose anything but an immediate prison sentence.

He said: "Burglary is considered to be a serious offences because people are entitled to feel safe in their houses.

"They are entitled to believe they can go to bed at night without somebody like you breaking into their house.

"It is a terrifying experience to be woken by somebody smashing their window in the middle of the night.

"People end up feeling scared, insecure, unable to sleep and unable to settle."