A teenage burglar has been locked up for almost three years after breaking into a 91-year-old woman’s home in Allerton.

Abbas Mahmood, 18, of Aberdeen Terrace, Lidget Green, was part of a gang that targeted the pensioner’s home in Manscombe Road, breaking in through the patio door while she was alone upstairs.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the vulnerable woman heard a loud bang and went downstairs to see someone heading out the broken door. She was able to activate a panic alarm.

Items stolen from her house later linked Mahmood to the January 8 burglary.

Prosecutor Abigail Langford told the court that just 25 minutes later the same gang using the same vehicle attempted to break in to another house, this time in Leaventhorpe Avenue in Thornton.

They waited for the occupier to leave and then tried to force the rear doors. Nothing was stolen but Mahmood was identified from CCTV footage.

He was also charged with trying to break in to a house at Pentland Avenue in Clayton on December 18, and two counts of handling stolen goods

In addition, Miss Langford said Mahmood has been spotted by police driving a Ford Fiesta which ran a red light on September 23, last year near Toller Lane. Police pursued him, the court heard, and he reached speeds of 70mph in a 30mph zone, before turning into a dead end.

Mahmood pleaded guilty to burglary, two attempted burglaries, two counts of handling stolen goods, dangerous driving and two other driving offences

Caroline Wigin, defending, said he wanted to apologise to the victims of his crimes for being so selfish.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, sentenced Mahmood to two years and ten months in a young offender institution. He said: “You are a bad lad and you have to learn a lesson from this.”

He also disqualified him from driving for two years upon release.