A TALENTED footballer and his accomplices hurled roof tiles and stolen gold jewellery from the roof of a Bradford house they had burgled - watched by a big crowd in the street urging them to come down.

Usmaan Hussain, 20, and two youths, who cannot be named due to their ages, fled through the skylight of the address in Willow Street, Girlington, after they were caught red-handed by the police raiding the property, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Hussain, a restaurant worker of Agar Terrace, Girlington, admitted burgling the property on the afternoon of March 20 and damaging roof tiles.

The court heard his mother, a school governor, was a friend of the woman burglary victim, who lived just round the corner from Hussain and his family.

Prosecutor Jon Gregg said Hussain and the two youths, both aged under 18, arrived at the house in a car with false registration plates.

They broke in using vice grips, damaged internal doors and escaped on to the roof when the police arrived and ordered them to come out.

Video footage from the rooftop stand-off in March this year

A crowd gathered in the street as they hurled down roof tiles, stolen jewellery and the keys to the getaway car.

Hussain, who eventually gave himself up saying he had injured his back climbing on to the roof, was from a decent family who fell in with youths from his local area, said his barrister Soheil Khan.

His mother was a school governor who was a close friend of the teaching assistant whose house was burgled. He was a talented footballer who had trialled for Bradford City and Leeds United.

“Both he and his family have expressed deep shame,” Mr Khan said.

Recorder Abdul Iqbal QC said he was sparing Hussain immediate custody as an act of mercy to his mother and because he was a young man with no criminal record.

He had burgled the house and vandalised it, stealing Asian jewellery to sell on and then throwing his ill-gotten gains to the floor, damaging it.

Recorder Iqbal sentenced Hussain to 21 months detention in a young offender institution, suspended for 12 months, with 200 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement with the probation service.

He must also pay £500 prosecution costs.

Recorder Iqbal said he was giving Hussain a chance and urged him to take it.

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