A WOMAN who burgled a Bradford house was found wearing expensive trainers she had taken from a bedroom where a child was asleep.

Bradford Crown Court heard that Lynette Allen had been wandering the streets when she made the impulsive decision to get into the property in search of food.

Prosecutor Abigail Langford said the owner of the house, on Ellercroft Terrace, had left at 8.40am on October 19 last year to take her youngest child to school, leaving her eldest daughter asleep in her room.

She returned to find the side door slightly ajar, saw someone behind it, and called to them.

Miss Langford said: “She shut the side door and went round the back of the house to look through the French doors into the kitchen and could see the defendant crouching down behind the counter.

“The defendant walked out of the kitchen and out of the side door of the house and down the driveway at which time [the owner] was already on the phone to the police.”

Officers arrived quickly and arrested Allen at the scene. She was found to be wearing a pair of £140 Nike Air Max trainers that had been removed from the daughter’s bedroom and had the side door key on her person.

Later, in custody, Allen threw a cup of water at an officer’s face believing that the officer “was laughing at her”.

In a statement read to the court the victim said she had been left “extremely distressed and frightened” by the incident and that she kept thinking about the worst outcomes.

She added: “No one should have their personal space invaded and be made to feel unsafe in it.”

In an interview with police Allen, now 54, of Sutton Crescent, Bradford, made “a full and frank admission”, admitting swapping her shoes for the trainers and eating some food.

Ms Langford added: “She said she had been walking around all day and night and was fleeing a dangerous situation. I understand that she was housed in a hostel at the time.”

Allen later pleaded guilty to burglary of a dwelling and theft as well as an assault on an emergency worker.

Sentencing Allen to a total of 12 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months, His Honour Judge Ahmed Nadim said he took note of her previous good character and past mental health problems.

He said: “An offence of burglary is not simply an offence of theft. It involves intrusion into someone’s private place with the consequent effect of insecurity and uncertainty for the householder whose property is invaded.

“You have mental health issues and to some extent you are the authoress of your own misfortune in that you exacerbate that condition by the taking of illicit drugs.”

He also ordered Allen to undertake 30 rehabilitation activity requirements days as well as a nine-month drug treatment programme.