Brazen burglar demanded cup of tea while ransacking Leeds home of elderly dementia patient

Drug addict Ryan Woodhead followed the terrified 78-year-old home then told her he was “coming in” when she reached the front door of her Stainburn Road in Moortown.

She had been returning from the shops at around 4.15pm on February 11 last year when she noticed Woodhead closely behind her, prosecutor Bashir Ahmed told Leeds Crown Court.

The woman told him she did not want him in the house but he pushed his way in and then pushed her in the back and said: “Go and get your savings and give them to me.” The woman did not suffer any injuries but later told police he was “being nasty” and swearing at her.

The 31-year-old then went upstairs and told her was going to steal anything he could carry, but returned a short time later with nothing. Woodhead then demanded the woman make him a cup of tea, which she did and he drank. Meanwhile, he helped himself to £70 cash he found in the living where he was sat as he waited for the tea.

He then left, but returned the next day and rang the camera doorbell, which alerted the woman’s son on his phone, along with footage of Woodhead stood at the door. The woman was not home at the time but her son quickly went to the address and found Woodhead a short distance away.

After his arrest, he told police the woman had given him money before and claimed she had given £10 the day before, saying she was lying that he demanded her savings and the cup of tea.

Woodhead, of no fixed address, has 13 previous convictions for 31 offences, including burglary and thefts from dwellings. He was jailed in October last year for 10 weeks for an offence of harassment.

For the latest offences, he admitted a charge of burglary of a dwelling and possession of Class A drugs after a small amount of crack cocaine was found on him during his arrest. Mitigating, Stephen Smithson said: “The only mitigation is that he has pleaded guilty. Apart from that there’s nothing one can say about this offence.”

He said Woodhead had been addicted to Class A drugs for a “significant period” and that his craving for drugs had led to a restraining order being imposed to keep him away from his father’s house.

His father was not in good health, suffering from COPD, and passed away while Woodhead was held on remand.

Judge Robin Mairs jailed him for three years and said: “You obviously decided she (the elderly lady) was an easy mark and you were going to prey on her vulnerabilities every chance you got.

"It’s a particularly mean and despicable offence. It’s clear your addiction to drugs goes back some distance. It’s hoped that a period in custody will separate you from that.”