JAILED THIS WEEK: Here's who was locked up in Bradford

Thomas Adams, 29, continued to exchange thousands of phone calls and text messages with his victim by lying to the prison authorities after he had been locked up on remand.

Labelling Adams a dangerous offender who posed a serious risk to the public, Judge Jonathan Rose said the girl was deceived by him into wrongly believing she was in a romantic relationship. She was in fact being manipulated, controlled and abused.

“She was an object for your paedophilic sexual gratification,” Judge Rose said.

Adams, whose address was given as HMP Hull, was sentenced on a video link to the prison after pleading guilty to two offences of sexual activity with a girl of 13, inciting her to engage in sexual activity, and engaging in sexual communication with a child.

Prosecutor Richard Woolfall said Adams was discovered to be having sex with the vulnerable child when the police seized boxer shorts from his home and a forensic link was made.

After he was remanded into custody, the girl obtained a secret phone and Adams lied to the prison authorities by pretending he was calling a fictitious woman when he was phoning the child. He also had illicit phones hidden in his cell, the court was told.

In all, they exchanged more than 3,000 phone calls while he was on remand, with 127 hours of talking and 13,000 text messages.

A relative of the girl said she was secretive and argumentative while under the influence of Adams. She smoked cannabis and her schoolwork suffered.

Adams’ solicitor advocate, Saf Salam, said there was nothing he could say to minimise the offending or to mitigate what he had done.

Adams had 14 previous convictions for 21 offences, including serving a seven year and eight month prison sentence for robbery with an imitation firearm, but nothing for sexual matters.

He felt genuine shame for what he had done and would attend various programmes while in jail to address his offending behaviour, Mr Salam said.

Judge Rose said Adams’ victim was immature and naïve. She could not be expected to understand the risks, dangers and potential consequences that he had posed.

He told Adams: “She wrongly believed she was in a romantic relationship but she was an object for your paedophilic sexual gratification.”

He was on licence for the robbery when he took his sexual opportunity, encouraging the child to keep matters secret.

After he was caught out when the police called at his home, Adams carried on manipulating the girl from prison by deviously using a fictitious contact to exchange thousands of calls and texts with her.

Judge Rose ruled that the case met the legal criteria for dangerousness. Adams presented a serious risk to members of the public and they needed to be protected from him.

He sentenced him to a 13 year extended prison sentence, with an eight-year custodial term and five years on extended licence.

Judge Rose made a Sexual Harm Prevention Order without limit of time and ordered Adams to sign on the sex offender register for life.

AN Iraq War veteran who threatened to blow up a university business centre with a non-existent suicide vest was jailed for 16 months.

John Douglas, who served in the British Army in the conflict, claimed to be wearing an explosive vest while he was suffering with serious mental health problems.

Douglas, 35, of Brigg Street, Queensbury, Bradford, pleaded guilty to communicating false information with intent at the University Business Centre in Piece Mill, Horton Street, Halifax, at 4pm on January 24.

Prosecutor Graham O’Sullivan said the case was delayed by the obtaining of a psychiatric report that examined whether Douglas was fit to plead.

The court heard that the buzzer into the business centre was activated shortly before closing time and a male voice said: “I have to see someone.”

Douglas was in the first floor lobby where he told a member of staff: “I’m not well. I need help. I’ve got a suicide vest on.”

The woman staff member was 90 per cent sure he wasn’t wearing explosives but there were 150 people in the building. It was evacuated and the police were called.

The staff member stayed with Douglas, asking him his name and continuing to talk to him.

He appeared sad and distressed. He began drinking from a Lambrini bottle and he took out a handful of tablets.

It was clear that he was suffering a mental health crisis, Mr O’Sullivan said.

He was shouting that he was going to blow up the building but a mental health first aider who arrived on the scene also did not think he was wearing a suicide vest. He was emotional, crying and slurring his words because he was intoxicated.

When the police arrived they couldn’t be sure that he was not concealing something harmful under his jacket. One officer grabbed his arm and he was handcuffed and restrained.

He was then taken to Calderdale Royal Hospital for treatment.

Mr O’Sullivan told the court Douglas was not wearing a suicide vest or carrying a weapon of any kind.

But the police were concerned for the safety of members of the public and themselves.

Douglas told them it was a cry for help. He thought he was being followed and he had seen people taking pictures when he walked through the town.

He apologised and said he had no intention of harming anyone.

He had 16 convictions for 26 offences, including battery and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Douglas was sentenced on a video link to HMP Leeds after being remanded in custody since January.

His barrister, Jo Shepherd, said he was at a very low point at the time with serious mental health problems.

Judge Tom Bayliss QC told Douglas an immediate jail sentence was needed to deter others from making such claims.

A MAN was jailed for kicking two health support workers in the head in a sustained attack at Bradford’s Cygnet Hospital in Wyke.

Dale Gibson was just 18 at the time of the assaults in December, 2017.

He was angry because he had been “sectioned” under The Mental Health Act, prosecutor Abdul Shakoor said.

Gibson, now 21, who has since been an in-patient at the Edenfield Centre in Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He attacked the two male workers at 3.40pm on December 18, 2017, after they intervened to take him back to his room when he became aggressive towards another patient in a communal room.

Gibson threw one staff member across a corridor and when he hit his head on a cabinet and was knocked out he kicked him to the head.

When the second staff member went to help his colleague, Gibson pushed him to the ground, stood on his hand and kicked him to the shoulder and four times to the head.

The first victim sustained a cut to the head, back pain and whiplash, Mr Shakoor said.

His colleague was treated in hospital for a chipped bone in his shoulder, pain to his head and a bruised hand.

Gibson said he was angry because he had recently been detained at the hospital under The Mental Health Act.

He had 13 previous convictions for 24 offences, including common assault, battery, assaulting a police constable and robbery. He was on a community order at the time for taking a vehicle without consent.

Mr Shakoor said they were Category One offences because Gibson attacked the health support employees by kicking them with a shod foot while they were doing important work for the community.

Alexandra Sutton, Gibson’s barrister, said he had been at the Edenfield Centre since March, 2018, and his treatment was complete.

His doctor said he would benefit from being in a custodial setting and Gibson himself was happy to make the move.

There was a home with his grandfather when he was released from prison.

Judge Richard Mansell QC said it was a sustained attack and Gibson had previous convictions for violence.

But he was only 18 and he had been detained in hospital since because his mental health problems were at the root of his aggression.

Gibson was jailed for nine months. The time spent in hospital will not count against the sentence.

A VIOLENT bully got his comeuppance when he armed himself with a metal bar for a revenge attack on two brave brothers.

Lee Tallis and an accomplice set about the pair after they had prevented him from battering on his ex-partner’s door with a rock.

Judge Jonathan Rose told Tallis: “You’re a bully who got what he deserved,” after his solicitor advocate, Saf Salam, said he had suffered a broken shoulder when the brothers defended themselves.

Tallis, 36, was sentenced on a video link to Leeds Prison after admitting controlling behaviour, offences of criminal damage, two assaults occasioning actual bodily harm, and possession of an offensive weapon.

Prosecutor Ian Howard said the controlling behaviour reflected a course of conduct when Tallis bullied his former partner, intending to degrade and humiliate her.

After he was arrested by the police, he returned to her home on April 21.

Tallis, of Crag Lane, Wheatley, Halifax, damaged her property when he tried to smash his way in with a rock.

The brothers, who lived nearby, intervened and shouted at him to stop.

Tallis issued threats to them and went on to damage the home of his victim’s parents.

He then sought out an accomplice and carried out a masked attack on the brothers, armed with a metal bar and a baseball bat.

But the brave brothers defended themselves and Mr Salam said that Tallis came off worse.

He had 12 previous convictions for 21 offences, including criminal damage, common assault and battery.

Mr Salam said Tallis was heavily under the influence of cocaine at the time. His drug induced psychosis had triggered his violent behaviour.

During the five months he had been in custody, he had reflected on what he had done and he was determined to change.

Judge Jonathan Rose jailed him for three years and three months.

He said Tallis had subjected his former partner to “a stream of violent, threatening, abusive and controlling behaviour.”

“She was the vulnerable victim of a long and ongoing crime,” he said.

Tallis had then added to her terror by returning to her home within days of his arrest.

He had gone on to damage her parents’ address and found an accomplice to go “tooled up” with a metal bar and a bat in a revenge attack on the brothers.

Judge Rose made a restraining order without limit of time to protect the woman from Tallis in the future. 

A WOMAN with “a dreadful criminal record” was locked up for three years and five months for robbing a vulnerable man in his own home.

Cheryl Thompson, 45, snatched the widower’s wallet containing £10 after she and her female accomplice forced their way into his Halifax address on June 2.

Thompson had 38 previous convictions for 68 offences, including robbery, 43 shoplifting offences, assault and possession of drugs.

Prosecutor Gareth Henderson-Moore said that her co-accused, Kimberley Booth, 41, of Woodlands Avenue, Halifax, was jailed for four years in July for her part in the robbery.

The court heard that the victim, in his late fifties, had learning difficulties and had recently lost his wife when the women struck.

When he refused to let them into his home, they forced their way in, went through his pockets and robbed him in the struggle. They searched the property but did not take anything else.

Thompson, of Maude Crescent, Sowerby Bridge, knew the victim and was aware that he was vulnerable, Mr Henderson-Moore said.

The man had since stepped up security at his home. He now travelled everywhere by taxi and did not carry much cash around with him.

He had suffered “untold nightmares” that amounted to significant psychological harm, the court heard.

Thompson’s barrister, Abigail Langford, said she wasn’t the ringleader. Booth knew the victim better and decided to target him, although it was conceded that Thompson joined in.

She had pleaded guilty to the robbery at an earlier stage in the proceedings.

Thompson had been in custody on remand since August and had worrying health symptoms that had not yet been looked at, Miss Langford told the court.

Judge Jonathan Rose said: “This was a joint enterprise to rob a vulnerable and largely defenceless man.”

He accepted that Thompson wasn’t “the leading light” but she played a full part in the robbery when the women got into the address.

She had “a dreadful criminal record” and was no stranger to the offence of robbery.

A MAN was jailed for two years and three months for his fourth attack on his former partner and an assault on her mother when she intervened to protect her.

Sajad Mahmood had served three previous jail sentences for causing the woman actual bodily harm when he turned up on her doorstep in breach of a restraining order.

Mahmood, 37, of no fixed address, had been drinking and she was too afraid to refuse him entry into her home in the Manningham area of Bradford, prosecutor Emma Downing said.

Once inside the address, Mahmood continued to drink alcohol before falling asleep on the sofa.

When he woke, he began shouting at the woman, who covered her face with her hands fearing he was about to attack her.

Mahmood then punched her in the face several times, Miss Downing said.

She dared not ask him to leave so she went out and returned home at 9pm the following day, hoping he had gone.

When Mahmood saw her, he lunged at her and tried to grab her by the hair.

She ran outside, accompanied by her mother, but he pursued them and caught up with them.

It was then that the woman’s mother was assaulted while she was protecting her daughter.

Police officers in the area saw what was happening and Mahmood was arrested.

He pleaded guilty to his second breach of the restraining order, assault by beating and common assault, all between September 15 and 18.

The woman suffered cuts, bruising and a scratched face, the court was told.

Mahmood had three previous convictions for assaulting her occasioning actual bodily harm. He was jailed for four months, 18 months and 20 months. During the last attack, in 2017, he punched her and kicked her in the face five times.

This was his second breach of the restraining order made to protect her.

Mahmood had also been jailed for three years and six years for drugs trafficking and money laundering offences.

His barrister Clare Walsh said he knew he was going to prison.

He was homeless at the time and drink played its part in the offending.

Judge Jonathan Rose told Mahmood: “You are a man incapable of restraining your criminal instincts.”

He labelled him a violent bully with a bad record whose victim was too afraid of him not to allow him into her home.

Judge Rose ordered that the restraining order remain in place without limit of time.

A DRUG addict who robbed a disabled man in his Bradford home told the judge who spared her immediate prison he had made the right decision.

Joanne Evans thanked Judge Jonathan Gibson for locking her up in HMP Newhall on remand for a month because she was now free from drugs after 20 years. She said that gave her the confidence to make a new start in life.

Evans, 45, of Mallard Court, Lower Grange, Bradford, pleaded guilty to robbery, theft and bank card fraud, all against the same vulnerable victim.

She she stole the man’s bank card on December 23, 2018, and used it to defraud him of money.

On January 15, 2019, she banged on the door of his address in Allerton. She pushed him against the wall and when he tried to call for help, she prised the phone from his fingers and ran off with it.

When questioned by the police, she denied being at the man’s home at the time of the robbery.

In his victim personal statement, he said he now kept his door locked and he was afraid to go out.

Evans had 12 previous convictions for 23 offences, including drugs offences and matters of dishonesty.

Her barrister, Ken Green, said she had a long-standing addiction to Class A drugs stretching back more than 20 years.

She was motivated to change her life and was free from drugs after being remanded into custody for four weeks while awaiting sentence.

Mr Green said the offences dated back to late 2018 and early 2019. Evans’ probation officer said there was a good prospect of rehabilitation.

Evans, who was on a video link to the prison, asked to read out a letter she had written to the judge.

She thanked him for sending her to prison for a month, allowing her to get clean of drugs, and said she was very sorry for committing the offences.

If Judge Gibson gave her a chance, she would make the most of the opportunity.

“I will promise you, you won’t see me again. I want to make something of my life,” she said.

Evans was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a Drug Rehabilitation Requirement and up to 30 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement Days with the probation service.

A five-year restraining order bans her from contacting her victim or going to his home address. She was also ordered to pay him £140 compensation.

After she was sentenced, Evans told Judge Gibson: “I will prove you to be right and that you have made the right decision.”

A WOMAN was jailed for seven years for stabbing a male friend in a vodka-fuelled attack in his home.

Jade Proctor, 28, was convicted last month after a trial of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and sentenced on a video link from the court to HMP Newhall.

Proctor, 28, of Sutton Crescent, Tyersal, Bradford, was a chronic alcoholic who had been battling a drink problem since she was 17, Judge Richard Mansell QC said.

In 2016, she was jailed for 27 months for stabbing another man three times in a drunken loss of temper. It was her third prison sentence in nine months for attacking her 54-year-old drinking companion.

In the latest offence, committed in her victim’s home on February 18, Proctor got drunk on vodka and stabbed him in the thigh and the back of the head.

Her barrister, Geraldine Kelly, said Proctor had been doing very well until then by abstaining from drink.

She had been alcohol dependant since her teens but was now well thought of by her support workers in the community.

Proctor had also stayed sober while in prison on remand and had obtained a job as a cleaner in the prison.

On her release she would be welcome back in her Sober Living accommodation, Miss Kelly said.

“She doesn’t want to be an alcoholic and she doesn’t want to be violent,” she told the court.

Judge Mansell said Proctor had been undergoing a period of rehabilitation but on February 17, she moved out of her accommodation and “fell off the wagon”.

She had been downing vodka and while she was at a friend’s Bradford flat she became increasingly drunk.

When he asked her to keep the noise down so she wouldn’t disturb the neighbours, Proctor threatened to stab him.

“He laughed it off thinking you weren’t serious,” Judge Mansell said.

But Proctor grabbed a small kitchen knife and while the man was sitting down, she stabbed him twice in the left thigh.

As he leaned forward to grab his wounds, she cut the back of his head with the knife.

“The injuries, mercifully for him and you, were not the most serious,” Judge Mansell said.

But Proctor’s previous convictions were a serious aggravating factor and the offence had been committed while she was in drink.

Judge Mansell made an indefinite restraining order banning Proctor from making contact with her victim or going to his home.

A MOTHER who tried to strangle and poison her young sons was made the subject of an indefinite Hospital Order.

The woman from the Bradford district was originally charged with attempted murder but pleaded guilty to four child cruelty offences after psychiatrists decided that she was too mentally unwell to form the intent to kill.

The mother, who cannot be named to protect the identities of the children, was arrested when they failed to attend school.

One of them told a relative: “Mummy tried to throttle us.”

The woman said she had tried to kill them and that she needed help, prosecutor Stephen Wood QC told the court.

She also revealed that she had tried to poison them all with carbon monoxide. She told a psychiatrist she wanted the children to die peacefully and painlessly.

She said she lit a solid fuel barbeque in the bedroom but extinguished it when one of the boys became upset.

Both children had injuries consistent with strangulation and one of them had a carboxyhaemoglobin level raised to a level one would normally associate with an adult smoker.

This was consistent with recent exposure to carbon monoxide, Mr Wood said.

One boy described to a police officer how his mother put her hands over his mouth and began throttling him. He said she did the same to his brother.

The child said he thought he was going to die.

“The whole incident must have been utterly terrifying for these two young children,” Mr Wood said.

The court heard that the woman had been transferred to a psychiatric hospital from prison under the Mental Health Act.

She was present in court for the sentencing hearing and became very distressed, shouting out: “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Her barrister, Abigail Langford, said she was suffering from delusional beliefs at the time. She was an intelligent woman and had realised that she needed help.

“This was a catastrophic breakdown by her,” Miss Langford said.

There was a clear link between her offending and her mental illness.

The woman’s treating clinician told the court she was suffering from a severe depressive illness with delusions when she harmed the children.

She would require lifelong treatment and monitoring, he said.

Judge Jonathan Rose said it was clear from her first court appearance that the woman was suffering from a severe mental illness.

From the outset, she had admitted what she had done and recognised that she could have killed the children who she loved dearly.

She had been diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder, with depression and anxiety, and had developed a sense of hopelessness about her life and that of her sons.

“You were unable to stop the tide of mental deterioration,” Judge Rose said.

He made a Hospital Order with a restriction to enable her to receive appropriate treatment and to protect the public.