Here's who was jailed this week at Bradford Crown Court

 

• A FACEBOOK Marketplace fraudster fled the scene in a jacket ‘bought’ using a fake banking App, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Aaron Carter and others were involved in a targeted and well-planned plot that fleeced members of the public out of items totalling at least £2,500 that they had advertised for sale.

Carter, 22, formerly of Steadings Way, Keighley, but then remanded into HMP Leeds, had committed a substantial house burglary on licence when he took part in the frauds, prosecutor Jonathan Sharp said.

He pleaded guilty to breaking into a house in Keighley with an accomplice and stealing a safe, cash, keys and a Rolex watch on August 2 last year.

He also admitted conspiracy to commit fraud between December 16 and February 25.

Mr Sharp said Carter was on licence when he committed the burglary after serving a sentence in a young offender institution for an earlier offence of housebreaking.

The victim of the second burglary was spending a night away with his family when Carter and another male got into his house. They stole a safe containing £2,000 in cash, a Rolex watch, keys and £650 in an envelope.

The men were seen breaking in through a window at about 8pm. They were disturbed by neighbours and fled on foot.

Mr Sharp said the safe was unlocked so they got immediate access to the contents.

Carter was identified by the police from CCTV footage of him running away.

He was arrested on September 12, made no comment when questioned and was released under investigation.

It was then that he took part in a series of five frauds using Facebook Marketplace to scam members of the public advertising on the social media platform.

Mr Sharp said it was ‘a planned and targeted operation’ in which Carter created a fake profile and posed as a buyer to take items without payment.

A seller advertising a gold bracelet for £900 was asked to bring it to a house in Keighley because the buyer was in a plaster cast.

Carter appeared with a cast on his leg and using crutches, the court was told.

The seller entered his banking details on a fake App provided by the fraudsters and was cheated out of his money.

He got his brother to advertise a similar-sounding bracelet to catch the scammers but Carter recognised him and they drove off.

A second man was tricked out of a jacket with the fake App. Carter put on the fraudulently obtained garment and made off in it, Mr Sharp said.

The next offence involved a games console that was simply snatched from the seller’s car boot when he allowed the males to look at it.

A Gucci hat for sale was then ‘bought’ on the fake banking App.

But the seller became suspicious and refused to complete the transaction. When he wouldn’t hand back the phone, one of the fraudsters produced a knife, the court heard.

A man in Newcastle selling a jacket on the Marketplace was the next victim. When he tried to contact Carter afterwards, he blocked him.

Mr Sharp said the cheated people suffered stress and anxiety. In all, the scam totalled at least £2,500 of property.

Carter was the only culprit identified. He made no comment when he was interviewed.

None of the property from the burglary or the frauds was recovered.

Carter had previous convictions for fraud, house burglary and dangerous driving and had breached an earlier suspended sentence order.

In mitigation, Nick Leadbeater said the production of the knife wasn’t something Carter was party to or expected.

His drug addiction at the time was linked to family bereavements. He had been suffering with depression and anxiety.

He had been detained in an adult prison on remand and had found that very difficult.

Carter read out a letter to the judge stating that he was remorseful and terribly sorry. He wanted a chance to make things right for his two young boys.

“I hate myself and regret so much what I have done,” he said, adding: “I promise you’ll never see me again.”

He had a job driving plant machinery and would obey any orders of the court, he said.

Recorder Alistair MacDonald KC said Carter had shown no willingness to comply with previous court orders and he had no confidence that he would do so now.

He was jailed for 15 months for burglary and 12 months for fraud to run consecutively, making a total of 27 months imprisonment.

 

• A DRUG-fuelled driver who smashed into three women’s cars seriously injuring one of them was jailed for more than three years.

The police received numerous calls about a speeding BMW driven by Safdar Ali that was involved in multiple collisions, Bradford Crown Court heard.

The car first struck a VW Tiguan on Wood Lane in Halifax and failed to stop, prosecutor Lauren Smith said.

Ali then drove past a police community support officer who saw that the BMW was smoking and its wheel was wobbling.

Soon afterwards it collided head-on with a Ford Focus, bounced back into the road and struck a Mini M50.

Ali climbed out of the car window and ran off leaving his passenger in the vehicle.

He was pursued by members of the public who lost him in undergrowth. They directed the police to the area and Ali was found hiding in bushes.

He was taken to hospital and refused to provide a sample but tested positive for cocaine and heroin at the police station. 

The Tiguan driver had to take three days off work because of her injuries, Miss Smith said. The woman in the Mini sustained injuries to her arm and shoulder.

The driver of the Ford Focus was seriously hurt with a fractured neck. She was in hospital for a week and her car was written off.

Both other woman had their vehicles significantly damaged.

Ali, 37, of Highfield Terrace, Halifax, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving on Wood Lane and Shroggs Road on November 8, 2021, and failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis.

He had previous convictions for drug-driving, dangerous driving, failing to stop and having no insurance.

Simon Hustler said in mitigation that Ali was apologetic and had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. He suffered with anxiety and mental health difficulties and had been out of trouble for eight years when he committed the offences.

It was ‘a one-off and a huge error of judgement,’ Mr Hustler said.

Recorder Alistair MacDonald KC said Ali had fled the scene and ‘outraged’ members of the public gave chase. He was under the influence of drugs, unsteady on his feet and not making sense.

He had then pretended he wasn’t driving and not answered any questions.

Ali was jailed for three years and 32 weeks and banned from driving for four years and until he passes an extended retest.

 

• A VIOLENT and vengeful stalker who threated to throw acid in a woman’s face, repeatedly rammed a car she was travelling in and burgled her home was jailed for three and a half years.

Abdulsaeih Abdulkhalik inflicted so much terror and misery on his victim that she had questioned the worth of her life, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He soon became controlling and aggressive, interrogating her phone and attacking her when she wanted to end their short relationship.

Abdulkhalik, 28, of Carlton Road, Manchester, called the woman 200 times a day, prosecutor Erin Kitson-Parker said.

He threatened to throw acid in her face and to injure both herself and members of her family.

In November last year, he followed a vehicle that she and a woman friend were in. When they went down a dead end in Bradford, he rammed it three times causing more than £500 damage.

He went on to smash a window on her car the following month and then to burgle her home. He broke a window to get in and made off with her iPad, handbag, watch and jewellery. The room was ransacked and a knife and screwdriver left at the scene.

She tracked her iPad to an address in Manchester and went there with family members. She retrieved the bag and watch but the iPad and jewellery were never recovered.

Even after she had told the police, Abdulkhalik bombarded her with calls and messages, threatening herself and her family. She was traumatised and afraid to leave her own home.

When he was arrested he denied stalking and answered no comment to all questions.

Jeremy Hill-Baker said in mitigation that Abdulkhalik was highly emotional and the threats of more series harm were made ‘in the heat of the moment.’ He never intended to carry them out.

“This was relatively immature behaviour albeit frightening,” Mr Hill-Baker said.

Abdulkhalik accepted that the relationship was well and truly over. He had been in custody for 11 weeks and was deeply sorry for what he did.

The knife was taken to the burglary to gain entry and not to cause fear.

Abdulkhalik pleaded guilty to stalking with fear of violence, burglary and two offences of criminal damage. He lodged a basis of plea on the stalking and sentence was adjourned on the last occasion for a trial of issue in which the victim had to give evidence.

Judge Ahmed Nadim rejected his account and found him to be guilty of at least three significant acts of violence during the offence.

Sentencing him, the judge said that Abdulkhalik met the woman online and they embarked on a relationship. Fuelled by jealousy and mistrust, he began using controlling and obsessive behaviour that turned to anger and violence.

He grabbed her throat when she didn’t allow him to interrogate her phone, punched her numerous times in the face, giving her a black eye and kicked her out of the car.

He threatened to throw acid in her face and made threats through her friends that she would be injured.

After the car was rammed, both the victim and her friend feared that he intended to do them very serious harm.

Abdulkhalik then burgled the victim’s home in a planned attack.

“It was motivated by revenge and a desire to cause her harm because she would not submit to your wishes,” Judge Nadim said.

He stole valuable property and ransacked her room leaving behind a knife and a screwdriver.

“The sight of the knife in her bedroom after you had violated it must have caused her some serious anxiety,” the judge said.

The police were then alerted but Abdulkhalik continued to bombard her with calls and messages, threatening herself and her family and forcing her to change her phone number.

The impact of his behaviour was evident from the victim during the trial of issue, Judge Nadim said.

He had damaged her emotional confidence and wellbeing and she had questioned the worth of her life.

He had inflicted a prolonged period of misery on her that would only subside with a significant passage of time.

Judge Nadim made a restraining order that prevents Abdulkhalik from contacting his victim for the next ten years.

 

• A MAN who plundered his ill mother’s bank accounts to buy drugs, alcohol and rail tickets was jailed for two years.

Adam Burke had destroyed her financial security and left her in difficulty even paying for food, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Burke, 39, of Sunbridge Road, Central Bradford, pleaded guilty to stealing £15,424 from his mother, between August 8 and November 16, 2021, and to defrauding her.

Prosecutor Richard Walters said he was staying with his mother in Halifax for a few weeks when he stole the money.

He would take her bank card, withdraw the cash and then return it so that she didn’t suspect anything.

Mr Walters said that in September that year, there was more than £13,000 in one account that was an inheritance from her mother.

Burke spent almost all of it and took £4,800 from another account but returned some of it, leaving a net loss of £12,224.

The deception was uncovered when his mother went into the bank and was told a male had been in there withdrawing cash.

Burke realised she would find out the money was missing and handed himself in at the police station.

His mother was devastated and wanted nothing more to do with him, the court was told.

Paul Canfield said in mitigation that Burke wanted to pay back the money.

He was a recreational drug user at the time and lost his job as a refuse collector. After the breakdown of his marriage, he had turned to drugs, alcohol and gambling.

Burke had shown genuine remorse and wanted to take part in restorative justice.

He had handed himself in and paid some of the money back.

He would apologise to his mother but communication had broken down. Loss of that contact could be the worst thing to come from this, Mr Canfield said.

Burke had a job in a kitchen and was at a low risk of reoffending. He had a new partner and had made many changes in his life.

Recorder Alistair MacDonald KC said it was difficult to express the meanness of the offences. Burke had sneaked behind his mother to get her PIN number and then used her card to steal the money.

All her financial security has been destroyed and she now had difficulty paying for food.

She was unwell, over retirement age and extremely vulnerable when she had discovered she had £2.92p in her account instead of thousands.

Recorder MacDonald said people would expect a man who preyed on his vulnerable mother like that to go to jail.

He made a restraining order banning Burke from contacting her.

 

• A VIOLENT and controlling man who choked his former partner, threw things at her and sold her phone leaving her isolated was jailed for 20 months.

Karol Gilewski, 26, formerly of Oakroyd Villas, Manningham, Bradford, but then remanded in HMP Leeds, pleaded guilty to two offences of engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour between January 2016 and November 2020. 

He began being abusive five months into the relationship, calling the woman names, checking her phone and then selling it, leaving her unable to contact friends or family.  

Gilewski, who was assisted by a Polish interpreter, upturned a table in anger about the way she dressed, Bradford Crown Court heard.

She tried to end the relationship four times but returned after he promised that he would change. 

The violence she endured included Gilewski grabbing her neck and choking her, squeezing her wrists, forearms and neck, and throwing plants, a laptop computer and a mug at her.  

He would leave the address for work by climbing out of the window with both sets of keys, leaving her stuck in the house. He told her to be ‘a well-behaved bitch’ while he was out, the court was told. 

When she asked for £580 that he owed her, he called her a whore and slapped her face causing her to bang her head on the wall. 

In November, 2020, she went to buy food and he locked her out all night. 

On another occasion, he grabbed her wrists, slapped her face, dragged her down eight steps to the living room and kicked her. 

She left after that and reported matters to the police. 

Gilewski was arrested and told the police he acted in self-defence. 

His victim sustained bruising, grazing, a black eye and pain to her jaw and the back of her head. 

The police had been unable to contact her for a victim impact statement and believed she was of no fixed address, the court heard. 

In mitigation, it was stated that Gilewski was of previous good character and the injuries sustained by his victim were not the most serious. He was in a new relationship with no continuation of the same issues. 

Recorder Alistair MacDonald KC said his conduct was ‘mean and despicable.’ 

He sold the woman’s phone because he wanted her to feel isolated. 

There were photographs that clearly showed the violence inflicted on her. 

Gilewski failed to engage with the probation officer as to why he committed the offences and had blamed the woman when interviewed by the police. 

“I can only conclude that you care only about yourself and do not care at all about the damage you have done to your former partner,” Recorder MacDonald told him.