Bradford dad misses birth of second child after being caught burgling homes

A Bradford dad missed the birth of his second child after he was hauled back to prison for continuing a life of crime.

Luke Brandon, 24, was part of a three-man burglary team which prowled a residential street in Bradford in the early hours looking to break into houses. He has now been jailed for 20 months.

Bradford Crown Court heard on Monday Brandon, who had previous convictions for burglary, was the only one of the trio to be brought to justice after he was identified from CCTV footage by a police officer.

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As well as jailing Brandon Recorder Taryn Turner also imposed a five-year restraining order which bans him from going into the Moorside Gardens area. Recorder Turner said the order was “appropriate and necessary” to prevent any further offending in that area by the defendant.

Prosecutor Verity Barnes described how the three men had attempted to break into three occupied homes in the dead of night by snapping locks. Householders in two of the properties on Moorside Gardens were disturbed - one of them by his dog barking.

At the time of the attempted break-ins Brandon, of Fencote Crescent, Bradford, was still on licence from a previous jail sentence and Recorder Turner said that was an aggravating feature of his offending.

Brandon, who pleaded guilty to the three attempted burglary charges, was said to have had 20 previous convictions for a total of 39 offences between 2015 and 2023.

Barrister Samreen Akhtar told the court that while Brandon had been remanded in custody for his latest crimes he had missed the birth of his second child. She said he now recognised that the people he was associating with were not a positive influence and he planned to move away from Bradford after his release from prison.

Miss Akhtar said his long term goal was to train as a barber and he now appreciated how frightening the offending would have been for the householders.

Recorder Turner said Brandon had been part of a team and the offending had been planned that night. She said all the properties had been occupied, but mercifully only minor damage had been caused in the attempted burglaries.