Third-strike burglar hurled brick through pal's glass door to steal cash from his home

Josh Walsh waited until the man had gone out on August 28 before hurling a brick through the back door of his home on Stockingate in South Kirkby, near Wakefield.

Leeds Crown Court was told that 28-year-old Walsh had gone to the man’s home earlier to ask for £20, but the man only gave him £10 and warned him to stay away in future.

But he later smashed his way in and took a money box containing around £60 in cash.

Appearing in court via video link from HMP Leeds where he was being held on remand, Walsh admitted a charge of burglary. He has 28 previous convictions for 59 offences, including two for burglary. As a third-strike burglar, Walsh, of Pennine Way, Upton, was told he could face a mandatory three-year jail term unless there were exceptional circumstances.

Mitigating, Lucy Brown said: “There’s no justification for what he did. He knew where that money was and knows he should not have done it. He bitterly regrets that he has come back the offending that characterised his younger years.

"His cocaine use had become problematic. He has had the opportunity in prison to realise that he can function far better without resorting to cocaine. He knows a prison sentence will follow.”

Judge Mushtaq Khokhar conceded that Walsh’s last burglary was 11 years ago when he was just a youth, so found he could draw back from the mandatory sentence. Instead, he gave him 21 months’ jail.