A “NINTH strike” burglar had a message for householders in Bradford when he was locked up for his latest home raid.

“I no longer go into people’s houses when they are in there,” Dale Poppleton shouted from the dock at Bradford Crown Court before he was led down to the cells.

Poppleton, 37, was jailed for two years and five months for smashing his way into a house in Brookfield Road, Idle, and making an untidy search of the property on August 9 last year.

Prosecutor Jessica Heggie said the police were alerted to reports of four men trying to break into the house shortly after midnight.

Officers who arrived on the scene in just seven minutes found the front door had been severely damaged and a crowbar was lying nearby.

After the unoccupied house was boarded up, the police were again alerted that night when a paving slab was hurled at the door to gain entry.

Poppleton, of Charnwood Road, Undercliffe, Bradford, was arrested after blood matching his was found on wooden boarding used to secure the property after the earlier break-in attempt.

He denied the offence when questioned by the police, saying he put his head through the hole in the door to look at the damage. He was remanded in custody and pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to burglary with intent to steal.

In April, 2014, Poppleton was jailed for three years and seven months for a confrontation burglary and attempted theft of a vehicle in Sunny Mount, Bingley. He locked himself in a car after stealing the keys from a property then tried to drive off while the owner wrestled to open the door.

When an accomplice, brandishing a claw hammer and wearing a ski mask, appeared, the householder backed off and Poppleton ran away.

Miss Heggie said he had 17 previous convictions for 95 offences, including nine court appearances for 16 house burglaries.

He had also been convicted of dangerous driving, handling stolen goods and robbery.

Poppleton’s barrister, Jeremy Hill-Baker, said his convictions included targeted, professional house burglaries and he had served substantial prison sentences for them.

He now had a partner and two young children and was keen to lead an honest life.

“He is determined to turn round the oil tanker of criminality and get it to a safe haven,” Mr Hill-Baker said.

The property Poppleton last targeted had been unoccupied for many months and had a metal grille across the door. He believed contraband cigarettes were being stored at the address and it was those he was after.

Poppleton also pleaded guilty to breaching his bail by failing to turn up in court in November last year.

The court was told he was in hospital at the time after being stabbed and suffering violence in which he lost part of his ear.