A CONVICTED burglar who did £2,000 of damage to Bradford Cathedral in a "planned and determined" bid to steal lead off the roof at dead of night has been jailed for 18 months.

Drug addict Jaroslav Kurtnota disturbed the head verger when the alarm went off at 3.15am as he was cutting and rolling up a substantial quantity of lead flashing, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Kurtnota, 29, of Harrogate Street, Undercliffe, Bradford, was caught on CCTV fleeing the scene and traced to the crime scene by blood he left on the roof.

He pleaded guilty to attempting to steal lead belonging to the Church of England on July 24 last year, and to robbing his partner, Peter Cotterill, 68, of £15 cash while on bail on December 15.

Prosecutor, Jayne Beckett, said Kurtnota scaled the cathedral at 2.45am and was up on the roof for around half an hour before the alarm was triggered.

Head verger, Jon Howard, went to investigate and saw him running off.

When Mr Howard checked the roof, he discovered that a large amount of lead flashing had been cut and rolled ready to make off with.

When he was arrested, Kurtnota told the police he was being assaulted that night and climbed on to the roof to evade his attackers. The lead had already been rolled up by someone else.

Kurtnota, a heroin and crack cocaine addict, robbed Mr Cotterill to pay his drug dealer, who was waiting outside.

Mr Cotterill, who lived with Kurtnota in an "on-off relationship" described him as "rattling" that day as he came down from taking drugs.

He pinned Mr Cotterill against the wall and stole the money from his back pocket.

Mr Cotterill locked him out of their home and when Kurtnota banged on the door, threatening to kill him, he called the police.

The court heard that Kurtnota had a conviction for robbery in his native Czech Republic and convictions for Class A drug dealing, burglary and theft in this country.

His lawyer, Tom Rushbrooke, said Kurtnota was planning to sell the lead to buy drugs and he robbed Mr Cotterill to pay his dealer.

"It is a bit of a wake up call and he knows he has to do something positive," Mr Rushbrooke said.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, said Kurtnota came to the UK around a decade ago. He had been unemployed for several years, living on state benefits and abusing drugs.

Of the attempt to steal the lead, Judge Thomas stated: "It wasn't just a casual piece of low grade stealing, it was planned, determined and sophisticated offending."

When he was arrested, Kurtnota told the police "absolute and utter tosh" about why he was on the roof.

"It is well known that lead on church and cathedral roofs is an attractive target for criminals but enormous damage is done to the building, and real damage financially," Judge Thomas said.

Kurtnota was imprisoned for 12 months for attempted theft and six months, to run consecutively, for robbery.

After the case, head verger Mr Howard said there was a sense of relief at the jailing of the thief.

"We're pleased that we got a result at the end and it gives a sort of closure that someone has been caught and then sentenced for what they've done," said Mr Howard, who helps care for the historic building which dates back to the 15th century, was alerted as the theft took place - thanks to a sophisticated rooftop alarm system.

"It's a clever little system and many churches now have them - it detects people on the roof, but not pigeons.

"It wasn't until we went up there that we saw what had gone on with all the lead rolled back ready to take.

"We've had a couple of attempts, but no thefts for some five years," he said.

Rt Revd Toby Howarth, Bishop of Bradford added: "The theft of metal is a continuing problem for churches and church insurers, but more and more are installing preventative measures such as electronic roof security systems, which made the difference at Bradford Cathedral.

"Metal theft doesn’t just cause financial loss but often results in other damage to stonework or internal rain damage.

"Along with changes to scrap metal laws, there has been a gradual reduction in thefts, but it’s still a problem which churches need to take very seriously," he said.

Specialist insurance firm Ecclesiastical said thefts across Bradford had dipped from a peak before the recession

"We were notified of six claims in this diocese during 2015 and nationally the number of claims for theft of metal from churches is down from previous years.

"We received a total of 277 during 2015, whereas in 2007 we received almost 2,400 claims, " a spokesman said.