Leeds house burglar's name and address on council tax reminder found in stolen car

Leeds Crown Court heard officers found the council tax letter addressed to 30-year-old Darren Head when two cars he and an accomplice had stolen after taking keys during a burglary at a house in Rothwell were recovered.

The two men had tried front door handles of houses on the street in Rothwell, in the early hours of May 22 last year and walked in to one home through an unlocked door at around 4.30am.

Prosecutor, Bashir Ahmed said the two men walked out of the house and went behind an electricity sub station to sift through the items they had stolen, including a child's school bag.

They threw the child's school bag in a bin before walking back in the house.

Mr Bashir said the two men stole keys to a Suzuki Swift and Mitsubishi Warrior and drove away in the two cars during the burglary, which lasted up to ten minutes.

Mr Bashir said: "All this time the occupants are asleep upstairs and it was some hours later that the child went downstairs and realised the bag was missing.

"The child reported that to the father and the father realised the cars were also gone and the matter was reported to police."

Mr Bashir said Head's DNA was on a screwdriver found in the Suzuki Swift.

Mr Bashir said police also found a balaclava and a council tax reminder addressed to Head in the car.

Head admitted the Rothwell burglary.

The court heard Head, of no fixed abode, was jailed for five-years-and-seven-months by a Leeds Crown Court judge last August for offences including three burglaries.

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC, handed Head a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the Rothwell burglary, to run concurrently with the sentence he is currently serving.