Five years in jail for Holme Wood burglar who targeted 19 pubs in city centre, Wibsey, Wyke, Shipley, Bingley and Bierley

Heroin addict Antony Cameron grabbed a bag of cash after he confronted a female bar manager in one raid, and sold a staff member's car for £500 to buy drugs after another break-in.

Cameron's six week pub burgling spree saw him make off with £2,100 of money and property and commit £2,600 of damage, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

He struck five months after being released on licence from a four year prison sentence for ransacking a house he targeted six months after being freed from a five-and-a-half year prison stretch for similar burglary offences. His haul included jewellery, a watch, a safe and personal papers.

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Cameron, 32, of Lymington Drive, Home Wood, Bradford, pleaded guilty to seven overnight pub and hotel burglaries, between January 15 and February 6, when detectives were appealing for the public's help to trace him because he was wanted on recall to prison.

GALLERY: THE BRADFORD PUBS TARGETED BY ANTONY CAMERON

After he was arrested and remanded in custody, he owned up to 12 more offences of burgling, attempting to burgle, and damaging pubs and clubs, under the police's 'clean slate' provision.

The case was adjourned while officers visited him in jail to obtain details of his further crimes.

Prosecutor Simon Haring said Cameron burgled a laptop computer, wallet, driving licence, credit card, USB hard drive and car keys from the living quarters of the Woodlands Hotel, Mill Carr Hill Road, Oakenshaw, Bradford, on January 15. He used the keys to steal a Mazda car, selling it to buy drugs.

A week later, Cameron confronted the bar manager in a flat at the Lord Clyde Hotel in Thornton Road, Bradford. The young woman was woken at 6am by the smell of smoke and saw him standing in front of her. Her dog chased him down the stairs out of the hotel. Cameron snatched a bag containing £200 as he made off.

He emptied six charity boxes and stole the staff's tips in a raid on the Tequila Bar in Glydegate, Bradford, making off with £1,750 in cash.

He forced a back door at the Che Bar in Morley Street, Bradford, but did not steal anything. Mr Haring said the fire alarm may have been activated because Cameron waited half an hour before going in.

Cameron shinned up a drainpipe on to the roof of The Rosse on Bingley Road, Saltaire, and stole bunches of keys and cash. He then crossed the road to The Hop, smashed a window and searched the bar area but got away empty-handed.

He broke into the The Noble Comb on Salts Mill Road, Shipley, but failed to chisel open the fruit machine.

Cameron volunteered to investigating police officers that he had attacked 12 more local pubs and clubs during the crime spree.

He burgled cash from The Old Pavillion Toby Carvery, Coop Place, Rooley Lane, Bierley, Bradford and the Dog and Gun, St Enoch's Road, Wibsey, Bradford; attempted to burgle the Brown Cow Inn, Towngate, Bingley, and the City Vaults, Hustlergate, Bradford; burgled cash from Bradford's Central Division Working Men's Club and the Red Lion, Manchester Road, Bradford; entered the Ancient Foresters Arms Inn, High Street, Wibsey, with intent to steal; stole money from the Robin Hood Inn, Town Gate, Wyke; attempted to burgle the Gala Club, Tong Street, Bradford; burgled money from The New Inn, Wakefield Road, Bradford; criminal damage to The Hunsworth, Whitehall Road, Cleckheaton; and burgled £956 cash from The White Swan, Wibsey.

Cameron, a father of two, was apprehended on February 6 in possession of his 'burglar's kit' of torch and molegrips. He also had a knuckleduster on him.

None of the stolen money and property was recovered, Mr Haring said.

Cameron told the police he burgled to fund his £200 a day drug habit.

His solicitor advocate, Anne-Marie Hutton, said he made great strides after his release from prison but fell back into drug addiction after suffering a series of personal tragedies and setbacks.

He had a partner and supportive parents and was offered work at his father's business.

"He acknowledges his latest downfall and that he must take responsibility for it," she said.

Cameron had written to the judge telling of his efforts to 'go straight' and saying he now intended to put his criminal past behind him and make a fresh start.

Miss Hutton said he used to burgle people's homes but all but two of his latest string of offences were in unoccupied commercial premises.

Recorder David Wilby QC labelled Cameron "a prolific professional burglar" who targeted the public houses, equipped with tools to break in overnight to steal the takings.

"You are an adept burglar with a degree of understanding and sophistication with regard to committing these offences," he said.