A BRADFORD man has been sentenced for a house burglary where he stole and damaged a car while the owner slept upstairs.

Brogan Regan, 21, of Rowantree Drive, Thorpe Edge, broke into a house in Cyprus Drive, Bradford, along with his accomplice, Dominic Hunter, who was sentenced at a separate hearing.

They entered the property by breaking a lock on its conservatory door and stole keys to the homeowner’s C-class Mercedes and gold Pulzar watch and an iPhone, which were left in the kitchen.

They drove off in the Mercedes, which was found nearby the following morning.

The car had around £1,000 of damage to its offside lights, wheels and tyres after it had been stolen by the pair.

The car’s dashcam was also stolen but later recovered, Ayman Khokhar, prosecuting, told the court.

Regan has 31 previous convictions for 57 offences committed between 2014 and last year, and he started offending when he was just 14 years old.

In mitigation, the court heard Regan is determined to give up his criminal behaviour and is ‘conscious he needs to change his ways’.

He had a job available to him in Bradford upon his release and he wished to go to college to train as an electrician, Bradford Crown Court heard during the sentencing held on Friday.

Regan, who appeared in court from prison via video link, also has a two-year-old daughter by an ex-partner and he wished to change his ways for her sake. Regan was 19 at the time of the offence, some time between 1am and 7am on March 17, 2019. He pleaded guilty to the burglary and theft offences at an earlier hearing in April this year.

Regan committed two further house burglaries, in Leeds in January 2020, and was sentenced the following month.

He committed the second burglary and stole a BMW, in Ossett, after he was released on licence in June 2020 for the first burglary. Regan was sentenced to 27 months’ detention in a young offender institution for the second offence and is due for release in September this year, on his daughter’s third birthday.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC, said Regan had an appalling record for offending and he and Hunter had acted as ‘a team equipped for burglary’ when they broke into the house in Cyprus Drive.

The judge told Regan: “You, at least, had the guts to plead guilty at the first opportunity.

“You will have been in custody for more of less 21 months by the time you’re released. I hope it’s been a wake-up call.

“You will serve six months in prison from today, serve half and you will be released and serve the rest of it on licence.

“It will give you the chance to make good on your promise not to spend the rest of your 20s in prison.”