Vile gang jailed after rape and burglary attack on Leeds mum

A mother was tied up and subjected to serious sex attacks as her young son slept in the next room during a violent burglary at her home in Leeds.
James WorkmanJames Workman
James Workman

A court heard burglars threatened to “maim” the young boy in front his mother unless she told them where money was stashed.

After the sex attack the woman was told she would have to drink bleach in a bid to get rid of incriminating DNA evidence.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

James Workman, 36, was jailed for 18 years yesterday after pleading guilty to burglary, false imprisonment and rape offences at Leeds Crown Court.

Andrew MonaghanAndrew Monaghan
Andrew Monaghan

Workman and Gary Floyd, 35, were recruited as “heavies” to carrying out the burglary at the home in south Leeds by Tanvir Ali, 36.

Their aim was to recover a padlocked suitcase filled with over £100,000 of drug money they wrongly believed was in the property.

Ali had stashed the cash shortly before being jailed for drug trafficking offences in 2010 and thought the suitcase had been passed to the woman.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ali hired Workman and Floyd to break into her home after meeting them in jail.

Tanvir AliTanvir Ali
Tanvir Ali

A fourth man, Andrew Monaghan, 26, a close friend of Ali’s, also helped to arrange the raid on the house.

Workman and Floyd broke into the property in the early hours of November 26 last year while the woman was asleep in bed.

She was threatened and ordered to tell them where the cash was despite it not being in the property.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A pillowcase was placed over her head and Workman ordered the woman to undress. He cut the handles off her handbag and used them to tie her hands behind her back.

Gary FloydGary Floyd
Gary Floyd

She was subjected to two separate sex attacks during the ordeal.

The pair and a third man spent hours ransacking the property in search of the cash.

They eventually left with the victim’s bank cards which they later used to withdraw cash.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The young boy slept through the incident and awoke unharmed after the attackers had left the property.

Workman, a prolific violent offender who was out of prison on life licence at the time, was caught after his DNA was found on the bathroom floor.

Workman, of York Drive, Newark, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to two offences of rape, false imprisonment, burglary and conspiracy to acquire criminal property.

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier, QC, told Workman: “You leant yourself to this with vigour. You had no concern for (the victim) or the dreadful effect your outrageous and callous behaviour was having on her. You cared not a scrap about her or about her young child.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Floyd, of St Catherine’s Avenue, Doncaster, a prolific career burglar, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to false imprisonment, burglary and conspiracy to acquire criminal property.

Ali, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to acquire criminal property. Monaghan, of Willow Gardens, Alverthorpe, Wakefield, was convicted of the offence after a trial. Both were jailed for six years.

The judge told Ali: “It was your criminal proceeds that were being hunted down. It was you who recruited Workman and Floyd as heavies. I have no doubt that you knew the sort of man that Workman was and that it would be dangerous to let him loose on this venture.

“This was a dreadful crime committed deliberately and knowingly by each of you.”