A 44 year old man, Conrad Cooke, has been sentenced to two years and eight months in jail over a series of robberies in Leeds. Cooke specifically targeted student houses in Headingley and Burley.

Cooke broke into a house on St Anne’s Drives, Burley, on the 30th of October of this year and stole a Playstation. He later broke into a house on St Anne’s Way, also in Burley, on November 7th and stole around £1,000 worth of property including an Xbox.

Cooke then broke into a house in Headingley on November 18th. He was interrupted by a student who had been at home during the time of the incident. The student then proceeded to chase Cooke who was eventually found hiding under a van by the police.

After being arrested by the police, a number of items which had been stolen from a house in Derwent Water Grove in Headingley, were found in Cooke’s possession.

He pleaded guilty to three offences of burglary and one of handling stolen goods.

Michael Miller, mitigating during the trial, said that Cooke admitted the offence during the early stages of investigation.

During sentencing Sally Cahill, QC, said: “It was a spree of offending. You went out and committed each of these burglaries in order to fund your drug habit.

“Some of the complainants were at home at the time and it would have been extremely traumatic for them.”

 

Shamima Noor