A man aged 21 has been jailed for five years for his role in a dead-of-night housebreaking in which a £30,000 Range Rover was stolen.

Jamie Cowens, of Clover Street, Great Horton, Bradford, was a member of the four-strong gang that raided the property in Kirkheaton, Huddersfield, on December 19 last year.

Bradford Crown Court heard today that the burglars used a blowtorch to burn out the lock while the householder slept.

They made off in the black Range Rover but were low on fuel and had to stop at a garage to fill up, prosecutor Rebecca Young said.

Cowens, who got out of the vehicle, was later recognised by a police officer who spotted him on the petrol station’s CCTV cameras.

The gang then targeted a house in Pudsey the same night but disturbed the occupants when they were breaking in.

The couple got up to investigate and saw a man in a balaclava pushing a screwdriver through the back door.

The court heard that the woman was terrified by the incident.

Three men who confronted her husband outside the address demanded: “Just give us the keys and no one will get hurt.”

Miss Young said the intruders fled when neighbours were alerted to the noise and an off-duty police officer walking his dog went to the couple’s assistance.

The gang fled the scene in the stolen Range Rover which was later found burnt out.

Cowens pleaded guilty to two charges of house burglary and theft of the Range Rover. He also admitted a separate charge of handling stolen goods after he was caught with others in a stolen VW Golf.

Sentencing him to a total of five years in prison, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC, said the offences were serious examples of house burglary.

Cowens was part of a gang who had gone out at night equipped to break into people’s properties.

Judge Mansell said it had been a frightening experience for the couple who were disturbed by the burglars.

Cowens was locked up for two years for the Huddersfield burglary, 30 months to run consecutively for the Pudsey break-in, and six months for the handling the stolen car.

Creddy Taylor, 18, of Blue Hill Crescent, Wortley, Leeds, was sentenced to nine months in a young offender institution for handling the stolen VW Golf on December 29. He has been recalled on an earlier sentence and the new custodial term will run concurrently.