A DRUG addict thief who was jailed for stealing laptops from a children’s cancer ward is back behind bars after he snatched a 67-year-old woman’s bag.

In November, Matthew Ingham, 38, was released early from his two-year sentence for stealing the donated equipment from a ward at Leeds General Infirmary, but only a few months later he was “tackled” by a brave member of the public following the broad daylight robbery in the Aire Valley.

Bradford Crown Court heard today how Carol Carter had been walking along Victoria Road, Saltaire, at about 9.30am on January 23 when she felt a tug from behind and realised that someone had grabbed the bag which was over her shoulder.

Ingham ran off with the bag after the complainant let go of it.

But prosecutor Alisha Kaye described how his victim then shouted for help and even gave chase herself.

In her statement the complainant described how “instinct and adrenaline” kicked in.

It was only later she realised that she could have been hurt.

The complainant’s shouts alerted Jordan Hosty who grabbed hold of Ingham as he fled.

After a struggle, he managed to detain Ingham at the scene until the police arrived.

When Mr Hosty asked Ingham why people like him did such things, he said he was “hard up”.

Today the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, commended Mr Hosty for his public-spirited and brave actions, noting that many people would have let Ingham run off.

Following his arrest Ingham, of Hillside Road, Shipley, was recalled to prison for breaching his licence and today he admitted the robbery charge via a video link to HMP Leeds.

Barrister Mohammed Rafiq, for Ingham, said the defendant had run up a drugs debt of about £500 and was being put under pressure by others.

He said the robbery was an opportunistic offence which was committed after Ingham had been thrown off a train for not paying the fare.

Mr Rafiq said Ingham, formerly of Keighley, had expressed shame and remorse for what he had done and wanted to apologise for the offence.

Jailing Ingham for two years again Judge Thomas said it had been hoped that the prison sentence for stealing the laptops would have brought him up short, but that lesson had not been learned.

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