Criminals jailed in Bradford w/c January 28

• This fire-obsessed teenager who started a £500,000 blaze at a converted Bradford mill was locked up for four years.

Eighty firefighters with 15 fire engines battled the flames at the building on Rebecca Street on December 19, 2017, after Hamza Nadeem, 19, lit tyres in the basement.

Nadeem, who was living in a hostel on Coates Avenue, off Manchester Road, Bradford, was convicted of arson after a trial at Bradford Crown Court.

The court heard that he had a fascination with fire from when he was a young child.

The judge, Recorder Simon Eckersley, said: “This was premeditated, deliberately planned and conceived.”

Nadeem filmed fire and got excitement and enjoyment from witnessing blazes and their aftermaths.

“I am satisfied on all the evidence that you present a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public by the commission of offences of arson,” the judge said.

Nadeem was sentenced to four years in a young offender institution, with a four-year extended licence period.

• This drug addict who broke into a Bradford nursing home on Christmas Day and stole a 97-year-old man’s presents and television set was jailed for 32 months.

Shane Metcalfe broke the window to the dementia sufferer’s ground floor flat with a crowbar, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Metcalfe, 48, of Little Horton Lane, Bradford, had a lengthy criminal record for a string of offences, ranging from shop theft to commercial and house burglary and robbery. He pleaded guilty to burgling the nursing home.

• This drug dealer, caught with a £4,000 stash of cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin at his address was jailed for four years and four months.

Rajinder Nanra’s addiction to class A drugs had cost him his marriage, his home, his job and the support of his parents, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Nanra, 41, was caught red-handed with a store of drugs when the police raided his address in Washington Street, Girlington, Bradford, on August 8 last year.

They found a block of heroin worth £1,419 in his bedroom, along with scales, bags and dealer lists. Hidden on the landing were wraps of crack cocaine, cocaine and heroin and a second block of heroin.  In all, the stash had a street value of £4,368.

•  This homeless drug addict who used an axe to force his way into supported housing for students with health problems was locked up for two years and four months.

Ronald Horvath attacked the accommodation in Great Horton, Bradford, four times in four days, breaking in twice and attempting to kick down a door on two occasions.

Horvath, 20, of no fixed address, first struck on December 8, gaining entry to the house by forcing window bars with an axe. He stole a laptop computer, a phone, bank cards and a rucksack, together valued at £1,100.

Horvath was back the following day at 9.22pm. He tried to break in through a rear door using a screwdriver before kicking at it.

On December 10, he returned in the early hours to force his way through a barred window and make off with two laptops worth £800 from the office.

His fourth visit was another unsuccessful attempt to kick down a back door.

Horvath caused £4,000 damage to the building.

He was sentenced to two years in a young offender institution, with four months consecutive for breaching a community order.

•  This street drug dealer serving two years behind bars for selling heroin and crack cocaine was sentenced to a further six months in jail.

Qasib Hussain, 21, of Sherwood Place, Undercliffe, Bradford, was sent to a young offender institution in August last year after pleading guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

He and an accomplice were seen dealing crack cocaine and heroin on Festival Avenue, Shipley, on March 24, 2017.

This week, Hussain was brought back to Bradford Crown Court to be sentenced for more drugs offences, dating from October 25, 2017.

He pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply and was sentenced to six months imprisonment to run consecutively to his current sentence.

• This “wanted” burglar who carried out a spate of raids on homes in Baildon, Menston and Farsley while on prison licence was jailed for five years.

Drug addict Stephen Irwin, 38, who already had 18 house burglaries on his record, broke into homes at dead of night and stole property and cars, including a man's Motability vehicle.

Bradford Crown Court heard that homeless Irwin was committing offences to fund his long-standing heroin and crack cocaine addiction.

In addition to admitting three house burglaries, two charges of car theft and one of attempted burglary, he asked for two more house burglaries and a further attempt to be taken into consideration.

•  This man was jailed for 20 years for sexual offences against a young girl.

Philip Stott, 32, of Hare Park Avenue, Liversedge, was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court following a trial.

The offences took place earlier this decade against a girl aged between six and ten.

Stott was charged with ten counts of child sexual offences, including four charges of rape of a child under 13; two counts of assault by penetration of a child under 13; two counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and two counts of taking indecent photographs of a child.

He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with an extended licence of four years.