A burglar who escaped with £4,200 worth of property after ransacking a house at dead of night while a couple and their children were sleeping has been locked up for two and a half years.

Paul Newall spent an hour and ten minutes searching the home, going into occupied bedrooms after breaking in through an upstairs window, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

He jumped court bail after burgling the address on November 16, 2018, but was arrested on a warrant last month and remanded into Leeds Prison.

Newall, 39, whose address was give as the Allerton area of Bradford, pleaded guilty to the offence at the magistrates’ court and was sentenced yesterday.

Prosecutor, Katy Varlow, said he was caught on CCTV taking washing off a clothes line and trying doors on Springwood Avenue, Little Horton, Bradford, at around 2.30am.

Newall, who had a screwdriver with him, then climbed on to a wheelie bin to force his way in through the window of a neighbouring property. He ransacked rooms before being seen upstairs by the woman householder.

Newall fled with his haul that included electrical items, a handbag, makeup, cash, a car key and bank cards. A laptop he stole had irreplaceable family photographs on it.

He left the screwdriver outside one of the children’s bedrooms and was arrested when his DNA was found on it.

Newall failed to appear in court on summons in July last year and was wanted on warrant.

Miss Varlow said the burglary had left members of the family depressed, stressed and fearful.

They did not want to go out and socialise for months afterwards and they had lost items of irreplaceable value.

Newall had 21 previous convictions for 48 offences, including burglary and attempted burglary.

He was due to appear at Bradford Crown Court on the day he burgled the house.

His solicitor advocate, Alastair Bateman, conceded that Newall made an untidy search of the house but with no vandalism. He was on his own and without a vehicle.

He accepted that what he did was totally wrong and that he was going to prison.

Mr Bateman said Newall suffered a double tragedy when his twin brother was killed in an industrial accident and the grandmother who had raised him died.

He began taking drugs, his relationship broke down and he started to reoffend.

Until then, he had stayed out of trouble for 13 years.

He had since turned his life around with a new partner and full-time employment.

Judge Colin Burn said it was “an extremely serious burglary” in an occupied house at night.

Newall had been in the property for more than an hour. He was seen on the premises by the children’s mother and he made off with high value and irreplaceable items.