A CONVICTED murderer who was on the run for more than two years after imprisoning and raping a woman at his Bradford flat was jailed for ten years.

Nicolae Fratutescu jumped bail in February 2017 and was at large until he was arrested in Bradford following a tip-off from a member of the public in March this year.

Fratutescu, 49, of Barkerend Road, Bradford, was convicted by a jury at Bradford Crown Court of false imprisonment, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, rape and attempted rape.

He was told that he will be automatically deported to his native Romania.

Fratutescue, a builder who also did gardening work in the Bradford area, locked the woman in his then address in Lapage Street, off Leeds Road, on May 14, 2016.

The court heard that she was so terrified she tried to climb out of the kitchen window to escape when the police arrived at 10.50pm.

Officers reported that she was screaming, crying hysterically and shouting for help.

Two of her teeth were found on the living room floor and there was a blood-stained towel at the address.

The Polish woman spoke very little English but she showed the police her bloody lip and made a punching gesture towards her face.

She told the court she was acquainted with Fratutescu and went to his flat because he said he would find her a job.

He wanted the window closed and the blinds shut.

They had beer and cigarettes and when she went to leave to get ready for work, he said: “You’re not going anywhere,” the jury heard.

As she struggled to open the door “he just went mad.”

He punched her twice in the face, saying: “Quickly, upstairs.”

Prosecutor Richard Woolfall said the woman left the country a month after she was attacked and was too traumatised to return to the UK for the trial. She gave her evidence over a video link to Poland.

Mr Woolfall said that Fratutescue may serve part of his sentence in Romania if he is deported quickly.

Fratutescu told the jury the murder conviction, more than 20 years ago, was for killing a burglar in a struggle at his home.

As well as serving six years of a ten-year prison sentence for the killing in Romania, Fratutescue also served a four-year eleven-month jail sentence for theft in his homeland.

Judge Jonathan Gibson said the woman was so terrified by her ordeal at his hands that she tried to climb out of a window.

“It was prolonged detention and a sustained assault and there was additional violence used in the commission of the offence,” he said.

A MAN who kicked and stamped on his housemate not knowing his victim had sustained a catastrophic brain injury when his head struck a door frame was jailed for two and a half years.

Anthony Hardacre at first acted in lawful self-defence when Abid Ali burst into his home in New Cross Street, West Bowling, Bradford, and attacked him.

But Hardacre, 44, now of Murdstone Close, West Bowling, lost his temper after pushing Mr Ali who struck his head as he fell, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He kicked and stamped on him in his stocking feet in the hallway of their shared accommodation on March 22 last year.

Hardacre was convicted by a jury in July of attempting to cause Mr Ali grievous bodily harm with intent and the case was adjourned for probation and psychiatric reports.

The court heard that Hardacre jumped bail after giving evidence at his trial and was arrested in Blackpool two days later.

Prosecutor John Close said that Mr Ali sustained a serious brain injury and was not able to give evidence.

Mr Close stressed that Hardacre acted in lawful self-defence when he pushed Mr Ali.

“The injuries were catastrophic, but he did not cause them,” Mr Close told the court.

But then Hardacre launched a “sustained and repeated assault” on Mr Ali.

Hardacre had 56 previous convictions for 109 offences, including dishonesty matters, robbery, and assaults.

His barrister, Andrew Stranex, said that a psychiatrist had diagnosed Hardacre with paranoid schizophrenia, but his delusional beliefs had not affected his actions that day.

Hardacre had beaten a serious drug addiction and he had been living in Salvation Army accommodation getting his life back on track.

He had now been in custody for almost two months.

“It’s an unusual case because he did not cause the very serious injury,” Mr Stranex said.

A crack cocaine addict who committed two violent street robberies in two days was jailed for six and a half years.

Qasim Hussain confronted his first victim with a raised axe on Toller Lane, Bradford, after dark on February 23.

Hussain, 24, of Queens Road, Bradford, struck again the next day, locking a disabled man in his car, stealing his money and bank card and threatening to take him on to the moors and stab him.

Prosecutor Alisha Kaye told Bradford Crown Court that Hussain spun his first victim, aged 40, round by the shoulder as he was walking home for tea wearing headphones.

Hussain raised an axe above his head and demanded: “I want your wallet.”

When the man said he had no money with him, Hussain shouted: “I’m not a dickhead, I’m on the run.”

He then seized the man’s phone from his pocket and made off.

The following morning, the police saw Hussain at the wheel of a distinctive lime green Ford Fiesta speeding on Lumb Lane in Bradford.

He jumped a red light and accelerated along Canal Road with the police pursuing him in a marked patrol vehicle.

Hussain raised his middle finger at the officers chasing after him, Miss Kaye

said.

After a pursuit along “numerous streets” the police lost sight of Hussain.

He drove to The Sun Hotel in Kirkgate, Shipley, where he spotted a 58-year-old man, left with serious mobility problems after an accident, who was standing outside.

Hussain offered to sell him some tobacco and told him to get into the Fiesta while they did the deal.

Hussain locked the man in the car and sped off, hitting him on the head as he jumped a red light at Fox Corner on to Otley Road.

He pulled on to a car a park and demanded: “Give me your wallet. I’ve got a knife.”

Although the man did not see a weapon, he handed Hussain his wallet and he took out £90 in cash and his bank card.

When the victim gave Hussain a false PIN number, he was very annoyed when he returned empty-handed from a cash machine, speeding off with the man still on board.

“He said he was going on to the moors to stab him,” Miss Kaye said.

The police saw Hussain shortly afterwards and went after him again. When they tried to block his path in Frizinghall, the Fiesta collided with the patrol vehicle and span in the road.

The disabled man sustained whiplash, chest pains and cuts from a shattered window. He was treated by paramedics at the scene.

Hussain had previous convictions for a string of robberies, dating back to when he was 14. His record also included possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

He pleaded guilty to two offences of robbery, possession of an axe as an offensive weapon, dangerous driving, failing to provide a specimen for analysis and driving without a licence or insurance.

Hussain’s barrister, Andrew Dallas, said his client had been in grip of a raging crack cocaine habit at the time and was desperate for money to fuel his addiction.

The last robbery he committed before these offences was when he was 17.

Hussain had been in custody since February and was now free from drugs and anxious to make a new start.

He hoped to train as a joiner while in prison to obtain employment on his release.

Judge Jonathan Gibson sentenced Hussain to three years imprisonment for each robbery and six months for the dangerous driving, the sentences to run consecutively.

He was banned from driving for 21 months.