Students left traumatised after knives put to their face by masked gang during Leeds house raid
Gang wearing ski masks and balaclavas and wielding knives stole £4,500 worth of electrical items from students after bursting into their home
Students living in Leeds were left traumatised after a gang of masked burglars burst into their home in the middle of the night armed with knives.
Callum Rawson was one of three who stole more than £4,500 worth of expensive digital devices from the shared property in Headingley as the students pleaded not to be hurt.
Rawson, 26, was given a lengthy jail sentence at Leeds Crown Court this morning after admitting a charge of aggravated burglary.
A second defendant, Reece Lacey-Ashworth, admitted handling stolen goods after he was spotted in a pawn shop with Rawson the day after the burglary as they tried to sell some of the stolen items.
In an impact statement written by of one of the students and read to the court by prosecutor Nathan Davis, she said "The night of the robbery started as a happy one.
“In an instant that feeling was taken from us. What had been a safe place became terrifying.
“For months I lived in a state of fear and paranoia.”
The student said all of her university work had been on a laptop taken by the gang and never recovered.
She said the memories of that night continued to haunt her.
The students had been on a night out when they returned to their shared house in Headingley in the early hours of July 17, 2022.
They continued to socialise when at around 3am the three masked men burst in and demanded they hand over their valuables.
Two were carrying knives, one of which was around a foot long, the court heard.
One of the blades was put to a terrified student’s face during the ordeal. It was not thought that Rawson was carrying a weapon.
The students pleaded not to be hurt, but the men, wearing either ski masks or balaclavas, said they would not injure them then claimed they needed to support their families. They then fled.
The next day Rawson and Lacey-Ashworth went to a pawn shop on Town Street in Armley and attempted to haggle a price for some of the items.
They left without striking a deal and after being told they needed ID. The footage was later acquired by police.
Both men were charged with aggravated burglary, which they denied.
Rawson, of Summerfield Green, Bramley, changed his plea on the day he was due to stand trial. His fingerprints had been found at the scene.
He has just one previous conviction for drug possession.
Lacey-Ashworth admitted handling stolen goods on the day he was due to stand trial, which the Crown accepted as an alternative to the aggravated burglary.
He also admitted domestic-violence charges of assault and criminal damage following an argument with his then partner in September of last year.
Lacey-Ashworth, of Tong Drive, Farnley, has eight previous convictions.
Mitigating for Rawson, Ian Hudson said that his client had consumed a “large amount of drugs and alcohol” on the night of the burglary and his memory was hazy.
But he said: “He accepts he went along with that group. They had knives, he did not.”
Mr Hudson said Rawson’s drug use had escalated after his three-year relationship broke down and was left homeless.
For 26-year-old Lacey-Ashworth, Jessica Strange said he accepted he knew that the items had been stolen when they tried to sell them at the pawn shop.
However, he claimed he knew little of the circumstances in which they were stolen.
She said Lacey-Ashworth had been in custody for seven months on remand for the domestic violence matters and the handling stolen goods.
Ms Strange said: “It’s actually done him good. He just hopes he can make it up to everybody from what he has done.”
Judge Penelope Belcher jailed Rawson for 86 months.
Lacey-Ashworth was given two 12-month community orders, and ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work, 15 rehabilitation days with probation and complete a domestic-violence awareness programme.
He was also given a five-year restraining order.