A BURGLAR who was chased by an irate householder when he fled on a stolen bicycle in the middle of the night has been jailed for four years.

“Third striker” Chris Dunn was on prison licence when he struck at the address in Bateson Street, Greengates, Bradford, leaving a pillow case of swag behind but making off with keys, a bank card and a wedding ring.

The family was woken by a disturbance in the early hours of April 26 and the male householder saw an intruder in the hallway.

Prosecutor Beverley Wright said Dunn ran out of the back door and was pursued by the man into the street.

He had searched the kitchen and dining room at the house, stuffing a pillow case he left behind with jumpers, champagne and power tools.

Dunn peddled off on a bicycle he had stolen from a neighbouring address, disappearing down a snicket, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

When the alarm was raised, a police officer spotted him in Hollybank Gardens, Great Horton, Bradford, and arrested him.

The £375 bicycle he had stolen was recovered and the missing wedding ring was found in his pocket at the police station.

Miss Wright said that a second pedal cycle Dunn had stolen, a four-year-old boy’s bike worth £60, was never recovered.

Dunn, 49, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to burglary, theft of the bicycles and burgling Eccleshill Swimming Pool on October 4 last year.

He broke in with a shovel and did £4,000 damage, rifling vending machines and stealing cash and two bottles of water.

He was caught on CCTV loitering outside the building on Harrogate Road, Bradford, before leaving for 45 minutes and returning with the shovel.

He smashed in the back and front doors leaving behind the shovel with his DNA on it.

Dunn had 26 previous convictions for 83 offences dating from when he was 12 years old.

He was a “third strike” housebreaker on licence when he committed the latest offences.

Dunn’s barrister, Kitty Colley, said he was unexpectedly released from custody on March 30 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

There was no probation service support for him and he ended up homeless because he didn’t want to risk infecting his 80-year-old mother by moving into her home in Bradford.

Dunn began taking drugs and committed the offences to steal money to buy them.

He was jailed for three years for the house burglary, with eight months concurrent for stealing the bicycles, and 12 months to run consecutively for burgling the swimming pool.