A burglar who was involved in a planned attack on a storage unit at Lightcliffe Golf Club has avoided an immediate prison sentence.

Bradford Crown Court heard today how expanding foam had been used to disable an alarm before Jamie Goggs tried to force open the locked and shuttered storage unit using a gas-powered welding machine.

Prosecutor Ashleigh Metcalfe said during the night-time attempted break-in on October 10, 2017, the gas bottle powering the welding machine caught fire and Goggs was disturbed by a passing motorist.

She said Goggs was later identified after his DNA was found on the equipment which had been left at the scene.

The court heard that Goggs, now of Chapel Lane, Queensbury, was subsequently found guilty of the attempted burglary following a magistrates court trial, but in September last year he went on to burgle a friend’s home in Bradford stealing his television.

Goggs pleaded guilty to the house burglary today and Judge Jonathan Carroll sentenced him to a total of 96 weeks in prison, but he suspended the jail term for two years.

He told 44-year-old Goggs he would have to comply with a six-month night-time curfew at his home and he would also be subject to a nine-month drug rehabilitation activity requirement.

The judge said Goggs had tried to burn his way into the storage unit and it was a sophisticated attempted burglary.

Judge Carroll stressed that the suspended sentence was Goggs’ “one and only chance” and he would jail him if he breached any of the requirements.