Three burglars invaded a family’s house at night, leaving them so petrified they are moving home, a court heard.

One of the teenage raiders was told by a judge he should imagine what it would be like to be woken in the night by intruders.

Judge Colin Burn told the 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, it must have been “absolutely terrifying” for the family.

Prosecutor John Bull told Bradford Crown Court that the victims, a couple with two young children, had gone to bed, at their home in Gipsy Street, Thornbury, Bradford, after a party in March, but were woken at 3am. The husband went on the landing after hearing a noise and saw three intruders. He picked up a vase to protect himself and said: “How dare you come into this house.”

One of the intruders stood on the landing and shouted: “I’ve got a knife.” Police, who had been alerted by neighbours, then entered the house. The defendant was found hiding at the side of a bed. His co-accused were arrested in a bedroom and the bathroom. One had a screwdriver.

Mr Bull said the woman in the house described being petrified by the incident. The family had since had difficulty sleeping.

Barrister Nick Askins, representing the 17-year-old, who had no previous convictions, said his client had been led astray. He had 16 GCSE passes, was undertaking a foundation course and was involved in a programme for Barnardo’s.

Judge Burn told the youth he did not know if he had been smoking cannabis before the burglary – like his co-accused – but it might explain why he had committed a serious offence which was out of character. He had “more than a hatful” of qualifications. But the judge said the family, in darkness at 3am, did not know that he was 17 and not a seasoned burglar or someone who had gone into the house “to do something else.”

Judge Burn said: “Perhaps you ought to think what it would be like to wake up in your own bed to find three people had broken in and were moving around your house.”

He said that if he had been an adult he would have been facing two years’ custody. But someone like him, with no previous convictions and a relatively stable background, was more likely to re-offend when he came out of custody.

He said: “The public has to put up with enough young re-offenders. I don’t want to create another by sending you to custody.”

The youth, who pleaded guilty to burglary, was sentenced to a 12-month Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme, with supervision, a three-month curfew and unpaid community work.

The co-accused will be sentenced at a later date.