A MAN who was foiled in his bid to take a family’s laptop only to return to their home and steal it again just minutes later has been jailed for more than three years.

Imran Azad, 34, was found inside the house on Great Horton Road on the morning of September 6 last year after its occupier returned home from dropping his son off for the school bus.

Prosecutor Christopher Moran told Bradford Crown Court that as the man opened his front door he saw a “strange Asian male” standing behind it.

Azad pushed past the man, but then dropped the laptop as his victim chased him on foot.

After returning the laptop to his wife, the man tried to search the area in a bid to track down Azad.

As he was out, his wife, who was upstairs in the house with her four year-old daughter, heard the front door shut and went downstairs to see the laptop had gone. As she looked out of a window, she saw the defendant carrying the computer away.

The next day, the woman saw Azad on Dirkhill Road in Bradford and challenged him that he was the burglar.

She took pictures of him on her phone, which were later passed to police.

Azad was later picked out by the couple in an ID parade, having initially denied the offences, claiming he had been asleep at home at the time.

Mr Moran also told the court that on September 12, Azad broke into the basement of the My Lahore Cafe, also on Great Horton Road, rifling through bags kept in staff lockers.

The court heard that after finishing their shifts, two staff members returned to the lockers to find cash had been stolen.

After managers checked CCTV footage, Azad was identified as his brother had previously worked at the cafe.

Azad, of Cecil Avenue, Bradford, pleaded guilty to three charges of burglary.

Mr Moran said the defendant qualified as a ‘three-strike’ burglar as a result of his latest offence, resulting in a minimum sentence of three years.

The court heard he had been on-licence at the time of the offences following a conviction for burglary in March last year, and had also served a seven-year sentence for a string of robberies imposed in 2009.

Howard Shaw, defending, said the incidents were all “sneak-in burglaries” with no damage caused, adding that Azad had a history of mental health difficulties and a low IQ.

Jailing him for 42 months, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, told Azad: “I hope you get some help, because clearly you need it.”