A 21-YEAR-old father-to-be has avoided jail after being caught with two men in a car stolen minutes before from Queensbury.

Bradley Robertshaw and Daniel Rayner were jailed earlier this month for more than seven years each after smashing their way into a man's apartment while he was asleep in bed and holding a sword to his forehead.

The duo had been hoping to steal a Volvo parked outside the flat in Queensbury, but when they demanded the keys during the break-in, the victim told them his car was "the crappy Astra".

Robertshaw, 24, and Rayner, 23, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and theft of the car, but a third man, Kyle Ward, was yesterday sentenced for his part in the incident.

Ward, 21, now of Aysgarth Avenue, Lightcliffe, was initially charged with aggravated burglary.

But he was able to prove to prosecutors his lack of involvement by producing a lengthy text exchange which clashed with the time the burglary took place on February 24.

He had been arguing with his girlfriend by text, Bradford Crown Court heard, and had been called out of the house by Robertshaw and Rayner after they had stolen the Astra.

He pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods as he was being driven in a car which he knew to be stolen.

Prosecutor Anthony Moore told the court that the timeline of the numerous text messages indicated that there had been "time for the co-defendants to steal the vehicle and then pick the defendant up".

Giles Hendron, defending, added that Ward, whose partner was due to give birth in September, had been "engaged in a heated argument with his girlfriend by text message right the way through the time of the aggravated burglary".

"He never left the house until afterwards," he added.

"There was no indication of the gravity of the criminal offence his co-accused had committed. He was not the prime mover."

Judge Colin Burn handed Ward a nine month prison sentence, suspended for two years. He also ordered to comply with a three month curfew and complete up to 30 days of rehabilitation activities.

In sentencing he described the break-in as a "nasty aggravated burglary".

But added that it was clear from the number of text messages passing between Ward and his girlfriend in a short space of time that he was not involved in the actual burglary.

"I accept that you had no knowledge of the circumstances of that burglary" he said.