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

Billy Pryce had a knife while two of his accomplices wielded a baton and a spade and the third brandished an axe, Bradford Crown Court heard.

The terror unfolded at 9.25pm on January 15 when the couple living at the address in Queensbury were doing a jigsaw in the kitchen, prosecutor Conor Quinn said.

There were shouts of “Police, police, nobody move!” and the door was kicked in.

When the four armed and masked men burst into the house, the demands changed to shouts of: “Give me the money.”

The male householder ran to tell his partner to call the police while he armed himself with two kitchen knives and confronted the intruders.

The four raiders immediately fled pursued barefoot through the snow by the householder who quickly lost sight of them.

The burglars had left a spade, a lighter, a screwdriver and a phone strewn on the drive.

Mr Quinn said the phone was Pryce’s. It contained multiple calls and texts to him, one with the targeted address on it.

Pryce, 25, of Bracken Hall Road, Sheepridge, Huddersfield, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary after fitness to plead issues had been explored.

He was sentenced on a video link to HMP Leeds where he had been held in custody on remand.

The court heard he had 19 previous convictions for 47 offences, including burglary, wounding and theft. He was also in breach of a community order.

No one else had been arrested in connection with the offence but enquiries were ongoing, Mr Quinn said.

Pryce’s barrister, Jeremy Barton, said he had a very low IQ and was fragile, vulnerable and easily suggestible.

Text messages to his phone that night told him where to go and demanded: “Get on with it, Dingle.”

“There are issues with those behind the scenes. They have some control over him. They have a grip on him, if I can use that phrase,” Mr Barton said.

Pryce was working in prison and taking courses in reading and writing.

He was genuinely remorseful and bitterly regretted getting involved with the burglary.

Recorder Anthony Kelbrick took into account Pryce’s vulnerability and the fact that he was acting under direction that night.

Although it was a Category One offence, the raiders fled when they were confronted and nothing was actually stolen.

A MAN caught with wraps of cocaine in his underwear was jailed for two and a half years after telling police they were “bang on” when they suspected he was guilty of drug dealing.

Daniel Higginson was desperate for money and had the bailiffs at his door when he was seen dealing in Shipley town centre on the afternoon of February 18, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply and was jailed on a video link to Leeds Prison where he was remanded in custody.

Prosecutor Camille Morland said Higginson was imprisoned for four years in October, 2016, for drug trafficking offences.

He was caught with £5,000 of cocaine and cannabis, and £690 of cash that was criminal property.

In February, police officers spotted him dealing at the wheel of a white Volkswagen Golf in Dale Street at 2.15pm.

Higginson, 29, of Main Street, Bingley, was blocked in the cul-de-sac and detained.

Miss Morland said he at first threatened the officers with violence but was then frank and cooperative with the investigation.

He said he had multiple bags of cocaine in his underwear, the court was told.

A plastic capsule found on him contained seven wraps of the Class A drug worth £38.

Higginson said he was struggling to manage financially in the coronavirus pandemic. He had lost his job and his partner and the bailiffs were at his door.

He told the officers where to find dealer bags and other drugs paraphernalia at his home.

Higginson revealed that the police had caught him selling three bags of cocaine to a woman for £30.

His barrister, Christopher Styles, said he was right at the bottom of the drugs supply industry. He had under a gram of cocaine worth less than £40.

He was living in a small studio flat and had since been evicted.

When asked by the police if he was guilty of drug dealing, Higginson replied: “Absolutely, yes, bang on.”

“This is a true and proper full credit case,” Mr Styles said.

After his release from prison for the previous drug dealing matter, he had obtained work as a labourer and stayed out of trouble. When he lost his job, he was begging the DWP to help him.

Higginson had diabetes and other serious health issues that make him extremely clinically vulnerable in prison, Mr Styles said. He was on full lockdown and worried about catching Covid-19.

Recorder Anthony Kelbrick said that others who had suffered in the pandemic had not turned to criminality. But he recognised that Higginson had serious physical health problems and had been frank with the police.

The founder of the Little Heroes Cancer Trust was jailed for 20 months for stealing from the charity and putting its money into bank accounts in his name.

Colin Nesbitt, 60, of Kent Road, Bingley, was found guilty by a jury last month of four of-fences of fraud and one of theft between 2009 and 2015.

Judge Jonathan Gibson told him he had betrayed public confidence in the whole charities sector.

“You were dishonestly mingling personal and charity expenditure,” he said.

But it would be unjust to sentence Nesbitt on the basis of “the headline figures on the indictment.” Much of that money was spent on Christmas toy drops, staff wages and cost of the premises.

Judge Gibson continued: “What you did was in breach of a very high degree of trust and responsibility. In additional to the financial loss, you betrayed the public and public confidence in the charity and the whole charities sector.”

Judge Gibson accepted that Nesbitt’s intention at the beginning was to give a child in hospital with cancer a toy, and many ordinary members of the public gave to the trust through its Firewalks.

But he created a situation with no oversight into what he was doing. He did not ensure any proper financial controls and relied heavily on cash transactions.

The jury found he had “creamed off” some of the money for himself by putting it into his accounts.

Judge Gibson said he was satisfied that Nesbitt did not take all of the money alleged in the charges. But he bought cigarettes and clothing that was not charity expenditure.

Nesbitt was convicted of two charges of abusing his position as director of the Little Heroes Cancer Trust by transferring monies and/or depositing cash and cheques belonging to the trust in sums of £44,000 and £181,230 into accounts in his name, making dishonest loans in the sums of £16,000 and £5,000, and stealing £87.080 belonging to the Little Heroes Cancer Trust.

Prosecutor James Lake told the court he had previous convictions for benefit fraud, forgery and burglary.

Mr Lake said a fraud on a charity undermined people’s trust in such organisations.

Nesbitt betrayed the givers and abused the confidence of those involved in the trust.

It was hard to imagine a worse breach of trust, he said.

Attempts had been made to rebrand the charity but they had failed and it closed in 2016.

Matthew Donkin, Nesbitt’s barrister, urged the judge not to send him to prison.

He had been spat on when shopping locally following his convictions. They were never going to leave him; they were “a public and obvious punishment.”

Shame and scandal would follow him much longer than any prison sentence, Mr Donkin said.

The prosecution could not say what the actual loss amounts were. A significant amount of the money was spent on charity’s expenditure.

Although Nesbitt had “damaging and serious offences” on his record most were committed when he was a much younger man.

He had been out of trouble since 2001 and began the charity “with the best intentions and in good faith” after seeing his grandson was unwell.

Mr Donkin conceded that Nesbitt’s culpability was high but overall his conduct was not that of a sophisticated, scheming criminal.

The charity had relied heavily on cash expenditure and cash transactions and it was impossible to say what went missing and what was spent for legitimate purposes.

He was the carer for his grandson who had been dealt “a severe hand” with his serious illness.

“There’s no question that Mr Nesbitt did a great deal of good. He was there when people were suffering and struggling and in a great deal of need,” Mr Donkin said.

During the trial, the jury heard that the trust was founded in 2008 to give toys to children in hospital with cancer after Nesbitt’s own grandson became ill with the disease.

The toy drops started at St James Hospital in Leeds but spread to other hospitals across the country. Fundraising Firewalks were then held nationally to raise money.