A MAN aged 24, with 38 criminal convictions for 90 offences, has been locked up as a “third strike” housebreaker.

Thomas Ward, of Whiteways, Bolton, Bradford, was jailed for three years, minus credit for his guilty plea, after admitting two burglaries and theft of a car.

Ward, who was brought to Bradford Crown Court from prison remand yesterday, stole car keys from the office of Clayton Motors in Brackenbank Road, Bradford, on September 16.

He and an accomplice made off in a Toyota Corolla parked at the premises, prosecutor Alisha Kaye said.

The car, valued at £200, was waiting to be scrapped.

Miss Kaye said the owner of the car business, Mohammed Safdar, discovered that his office had been broken into across the middle of the day. The stolen vehicle was found abandoned in the Great Horton area.

Ward struck again on September 27, breaking into a house in Worden Grove, Clayton, Bradford, by smashing the kitchen window.

He searched the property, overturning a wardrobe and throwing clothes on to the floor, before fleeing empty handed.

Miss Kaye told the court a neighbour rang the householder after the burglar alarm sounded.

Ward was identified from CCTV footage taken at the property.

The court heard he was a “third striker” whose last conviction for house burglary was in February, 2016, when he was jailed for 30 months.

In October, 2017, Ward was imprisoned for 14 months for dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.

He sped off in a Peugeot on false plates, leading the police on a “blue light” pursuit along narrow country roads, before skidding to a halt down a dead end.

He was then recalled to prison to serve the balance of a 26 week sentence imposed six months earlier for aggravated vehicle taking with dangerous driving.

The court heard in mitigation for the latest offences that Ward had resolved to lead a more law-abiding life when he is released from custody.

He had been working at the prison during his time on remand.

Judge Robert Bartfield sentenced Ward to 876 days in jail, the minimum term for a “third striker,” with twenty per cent off for his guilty plea.