BEHIND BARS: Criminals who were jailed in Bradford this week

Robert Dooley, 62, and his accomplice, Jason Mcilvenny, both “third strike” housebreak-ers kicked and smashed their way into the 81-year-old woman’s home in Shelf on the morning of May 26 last year, Bradford Crown Court heard.

They made an untidy search of the property before making off with a sapphire ring and a pearl necklace.

Dooley, of Shirley Manor Gardens, Wyke, Bradford, and Mcilvenny, 49, of Olicana House, Chapel Street, Bradford city centre, pleaded guilty to burgling the house and en-tering the garage with intent to steal.

Mcilvenny was jailed for three years and nine months at an earlier hearing.

Prosecutor Paul Canfield said Dooley had 48 previous convictions for 149 offences, including 76 for theft-related matters and 33 for burglary.

Mr Canfield said the woman left her home at 10am on the day of the burglary and returned at 12.15pm to find that housebreakers had smashed their way in, causing at least £2,000 damage.

The court heard that they had taken it in turns to kick through a conservatory door and smash an interior door. Once inside, they opened drawers and tipped a handbag on to the bed.

They found the key to the garage and looked inside but did not steal anything from it.

The widow said in her victim personal statement that she was just getting herself back together after her husband’s death when she was burgled.

She had lived in the house for 60 years and the invasion into her home had knocked her back and left her devastated.

She was shocked and tearful, uncomfortable at home on her own and afraid to go out in case she was burgled again.

Mr Canfield said the offending was aggravated by the fact that Dooley was on licence, he had an accomplice and he was “a three striker.”

Andrew Walker said in mitigation that Dooley had a number of very serious health prob-lems.

He apologised profusely to his victim, saying he did not know that an elderly lady lived at the house. He was ashamed and depressed about what he had done.

Judge Neil Davey QC said the house the women had lived in for 60 years was “invaded and turned upside down.”

He conceded that Dooley had a number of very serious medical conditions that required both urgent and long-term treatment.

TWO men were each jailed for two years after they smashed their way into a Bradford house with weapons in a terrifying revenge attack.

Brandon Ward and Charles Woodhead had been reported to the police for taking a van from outside the property after a party. It was then driven at such speed that it developed an electrical fault and caught fire, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Both defendants were masked when they returned to the address later that morning. Ward had a baseball bat and Woodhead a crowbar, prosecutor Jeremy Barton said.

Ward smashed the living room window, causing glass to shatter into the room.

He then punched a man in the face at the front door and both men forced their way into the house.

A woman ran out of the back door and hid in a neighbour’s garden while two men tried to keep them out of the kitchen. When the door began to splinter, they too fled the house and went over a fence to escape.

Ward and Woodhead then left the scene.

Mr Barton said significant damage was caused to the property, with glass smashed and doors damaged.

The court was told it was only by good luck that the children were not at home at the time. They had been left upset and traumatised when told about what had happened.

Ward, 23, of Torre Grove, Horton Bank Top, Bradford, and Woodhead, 30, of Hall Lane, West Bowling, Bradford, were arrested and made no comment to the police when they were questioned.

They went on to each plead guilty to violent disorder and aggravated vehicle taking on May 22 last year.

Mr Barton said the works van they took from the address was completely burnt out by an electrical fault triggered by the excessive speed it was driven at. It was seen smoking and going erratically before it caught fire.

The court was told it was accepted by the prosecution that neither defendant had deliberately set the vehicle alight.

The self-employed tradesman who owned the van lost £10,000 worth of tools in the blaze. He had been recompensed by his insurance company for just £1,000 of that amount.

Simon Hustler, for Ward, said he was lightly convicted and the only similar offence on his record was an affray some years ago.

He had been in custody since May 26. It was his first experience of an adult prison in the Covid environment when he was kept in his cell for 23 hours a day.

He accepted full responsibility for his actions that day and he had reflected on his behaviour while being held on remand.

Ward was working at the time for his father. He was from a close-knit family and char-acter references spoke highly of him, Mr Hustler said.

Jessica Heggie, Woodhead’s barrister, said he too was lightly convicted and he had not been in any trouble since 2013 before committing these offences.

He expressed regret and remorse for his actions and he was sorry about the trauma he had caused to the victims.

Woodhead was a hardworking mechanic and references spoke of him being reliable and trustworthy, Miss Heggie said.

Being remanded in the Covid lockdown was very challenging but he had reached “enhanced” prisoner status and was working in the prison.

Recorder Ben Nolan QC said both defendants were hardworking family men spoken highly of in character references.

Each had been held in prison on remand since May during the difficult conditions caused by the Covid pandemic.

On May 22 last year they went to a party at a house in Bradford and when they left they stole the keys to the householder’s works van. It was driven at speed until it “blew up” and was destroyed, along with all the tools inside it, the Recorder stated.

When they learned that the police had been called, they decided to take revenge.

Ward armed himself with a baseball ball and Woodhead had a crowbar. Both were masked and they smashed their way into the house leaving the occupants cowering in fear.

Recorder Nolan made a five-year restraining order banning the men from contacting their victims.

Each was disqualified from driving for 17 months.

A WOMAN was jailed for four years after deliberately driving at a man and leaving him with life-changing injuries.

Kerry-jo Spencer pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and a separate charge of causing her victim actual bodily harm.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the man had to have part of his skull removed to relieve the pressure on his brain after he was deliberately knocked down by Spencer in Fairway, Wibsey, Bradford, on April 12 last year.

Spencer, 27, of Watty Hall Road, Wibsey, had left the man facing further surgery to re-place the missing section of his skull, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC said.

Mercifully, the father-of-two survived after a fortnight in an induced coma but his life had been changed forever.

“He has gone from a young, fit man who worked in manual jobs to a man who is unable to work and is reliant on social security benefits,” the judge said.

He told Spencer that her victim was now a totally different person from the man he was and he would require looking after by his family for the foreseeable future, if not the remainder of his life.

The court heard that the victim was at a house party when Spencer arrived at about 11pm.

She got out of her car and almost immediately confronted the man who was standing in the porch.

She then armed herself with an ornament to hit him across the face in an “unprovoked and utterly unjustified” attack.

She got back in her car and reversed off the driveway while he was standing on the pavement.

“I am satisfied that you were waiting for him to move so that you could knock him down with the car, but not hit the lamppost,” Judge Mansell said.

“He cannot possibly have imagined for a minute that you intended to do this and so moved briefly away from the lamppost and into the road. You immediately drove for-ward and straight at him, not at great speed, but sufficiently fast to prevent him taking evasive action.

“You knocked him to the ground and his head struck either the pavement or the wall behind him as he fell.

“You drove away without a moment’s concern for what you had just done.”

The man was knocked unconscious and suffered fractures to his leg as well as skull frac-tures leading to intracranial bleeding.

Judge Mansell said his family had gone through an appalling ordeal fearing that he would not survive and if he did that his life would be changed forever.

The court heard that Spencer had previous convictions including a suspended prison sen-tence in 2015 for an offence of grievous bodily harm.

After leaving hospital her victim spent time at a specialist brain rehabilitation unit before being allowed to return home.

“You used a particularly dangerous weapon, namely your car, to assault the victim in what was again a premeditated assault and you inflicted particularly grave, life-threatening and life-changing injuries,” Judge Mansell told Spencer.

He described her protestations of remorse as “hollow” and said they were designed to minimise her sentence rather than an expression of true remorse.

He banned Spencer, who worked in vehicle recovery, from driving for three years and three months.