A GANG of armed and masked burglars made off with more than £12,000 of designer goods after smashing their way into a house and attacking the terrified woman occupant.

Jarvis Horsman was one of three men in balaclavas who broke a hole in the front door and burst in with crowbars and a sledgehammer, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Horsman, 24, of Harrogate Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to burgling the property in Pudsey on August 13 last year and was jailed for five and a half years.

He was charged with aggravated burglary, with weapons of offence, namely a Magnus-son steel sledgehammer and a wrecking bar, but the Crown accepted his plea to house burglary.

Prosecutor Andrew Petterson said the woman householder was alone upstairs in the af-ternoon when she heard two loud thuds.

Three men wearing balaclavas had broken in, two carrying crowbars and one with a sledgehammer.

One threatened: “If you make any noise I’ll stab you.’ He demanded “gold, cash and the safe,” pushing her to the ground while his accomplic-es ransacked the upstairs.

One of the burglars wanted “the watch” and the keys to the couple’s Ferrari.

The woman said the watch was in London and her husband had taken the keys with him, but the man threatened: “I know where you live in London and I’ll be coming there as well.”

The woman was struck in the face, causing an injury to an eye, after she shouted for help.

The burglars then fled with £12,685 worth of high value designer items, including a Christian Dior bag, a Prada belt and Gucci sunglasses.

Mr Petterson said that CCTV for a nearby DIY store showed Horsman and another male buying the crowbars, sledgehammer, gloves and a screwdriver the day before.

A Nokia “burner” phone discarded near the burglary scene had Horsman’s DNA on it.

The court heard that the burglars used an Audi A4 stolen from Bradford and on false plates as the getaway car. It was found abandoned with packaging from some of the sto-len items in it.

Horsman was arrested soon after the burglary and made no comment when questioned by the police.

He continued to deny any involvement until last week, the court was told.

He was remanded in custody and sentenced on a prison video link.

Mr Petterson said Horsman had two house burglaries on his record, receiving 28 months in a young offender institution.

In her victim impact statement the woman said she and her husband had spent £8,000 on repairs to the house and installing new security equipment.

She suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks and loss of sleep.

“It was our dream home and now the dream is shattered,” she said, disclosing that the couple were selling the property.

Horsman’s barrister, Gerald Hendron, said he came from a respectable, hardworking background and had worked in the construction industry.

He was using cannabis at the time of the burglary and in with the wrong crowd.

Although he had previous convictions there was nothing anywhere near as serious as this.

Horsman was remorseful and “sickened” by what he had done, Mr Hendron said.

Judge Neil Davey QC said the burglary was “one of the most serious offences of its type.”

The woman was alone and helpless against the three masked men who broke in.

She was so traumatised she had to see a psychologist.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that you have ruined her life,” Judge Davey told Horsman.

A DRINK and drug-fuelled man was jailed for four years for trying to rape a woman in her Bradford home and then sexually assaulting her.

Daniel Waller had downed “an enormous amount of alcohol” and taken cocaine on a night out in Leeds when he stripped naked and pursued the victim round her living room, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Waller, 23, of William Mundy Way, Dartford, Kent, pleaded guilty to two offences of attempted rape, a single count of sexual assault, and assaulting two police officers, all on the same night.

Prosecutor Ian Howard said the woman allowed Waller to stay at her address after they both left Leeds at around 2.30am.

When he got there, he removed his jeans and said: “We are going to have fun, aren’t we?”

He stripped naked and attempted to rape the woman as she crawled away from him saying “no.”

He ripped off her bra and dragged her down on top of him, the court was told.

The assault ended when he passed out on the sofa.

The woman alerted members of the public and they told him to leave the address but he grabbed one of them by the throat before falling asleep in the kitchen.

The police were called and found him heavily intoxicated with scratches and bruising on his body.

He was handcuffed and made offensive remarks to the two officers on the way to the police station, kicking out at them in the vehicle.

Waller had a previous conviction for possession of cocaine, cannabis and a bladed article, Mr Howard said.

In her victim personal statement, the woman said she cried a lot after the attack.

She had isolated herself but now felt she was moving on with her life.

Waller’s barrister, Andrew Stranex, said his behaviour that night was “utterly out of character.”

He was a hardworking man and his family was in court to support him.

He had come prepared for an immediate prison sentence and bitterly regretted the impact his behaviour had on his victim.

Recorder Richard Woolfall said Waller had no recollection of what had happened that night after taking cocaine and “an enormous amount of alcohol.”

He accepted his remorse was genuine and that he was “utterly ashamed” of the way he had behaved.

He had brought shame on his loving and supportive family, Recorder Woolfall said.

Waller had gone on to make highly offensive comments to the two arresting police officers and then assaulted them, although neither was injured.

He was jailed for a total of four years and ordered to sign on the sex offender register for life.

A STREET drug dealer ordered by his bosses to “hurry up” with his deliveries was clearly not a kingpin in the supply chain, his lawyer told Bradford Crown Court.

Tony Spencer received a series of high-handed texts that proved how lowly his position was in the organisation, solicitor advocate John Bottomley argued.

Spencer, 30, of Reevy Road West, Buttershaw, Bradford, was netted in West Yorkshire Police’s Operation Swanpond that targeted drug dealers in central Bradford.

He was jailed for a total of two years and three months and banned from driving for two years after his release from custody.

He was caught driving a red Peugeot car on Tetley Street on February 12, 2019, when he had 29 wraps of Class A drugs hidden down his trouser leg.

He was disqualified from driving and uninsured, the court was told.

The drugs stash comprised 17 wraps of crack cocaine at 89% purity and worth £167 and 12 wraps of heroin of 57% purity valued at £128.

There was £59 cash in the vehicle that was also seized by the police.

Spencer made no comment when questioned and tested positive for cocaine and opiates proving he was himself a drug user, the court heard.

He admitted the driving offences at the magistrates’ court and received a suspended jail sentence and a driving ban.

While the drugs case was coming through the courts system, Spencer was caught driving on June 29 last year while banned and uninsured.

He was at the wheel of a black Vauxhall Insignia stopped by the police outside a row of shops in Bradford. He fled on foot but was apprehended.

He pleaded guilty to two offences of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and the motoring charges.

Spencer’s record of 30 previous convictions for 37 offences included three offences of driving while disqualified, aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving and 12 breaches of court orders but nothing for drug dealing.

Mr Bottomley said he pleaded guilty to all matters at the first opportunity.

He had issues with homelessness and drug addiction.

The phones seized by the police had disclosed messages like the one to “hurry up” from Spencer’s bosses that showed he was right at the bottom of the chain.

The delay in bringing the case to court was partly down to the Covid pandemic but also to the time it had taken to analyse the drugs and phones, Mr Bottomley said.

Recorder David Gordon conceded that Spencer was in “a lowly position” in the drugs supply chain but his criminal record was “unattractive” and he had a history of disobeying court orders.

“Your addiction was exploited by others up the chain,” he told him.