Terrified Leeds woman screamed after waking to find drug-addled burglar standing in her bedroom

Opportunist Dale Lee found that the front door of the maisonette on Moor Close, Hunslet, was unlocked and let himself in before telling her: “Do not move or I will stab you.”

The woman then screamed for help which was enough to scare Lee, who then fled.

Leeds Crown Court that the heard 24-year-old, who was suffering from psychosis, went on a thieving spree in the early hours of January 11, 2022.

Prosecutor Jade Edwards said Lee targeted three homes in a matter of hours, attacking one man with a bottle and threatening to “slice up” another.

Lee had first tried to break into a home on Arthington View in Hunslet at 5.25am, climbing up to a first-floor open bedroom window where the occupant was sleeping. After being spotted by a neighbour, he tried to run off but was chased by the neighbour and the occupant.

After catching up with him, he lashed out, hitting one of the men in the face with the bottle, which smashed and left lacerations to his face. He then stood there with the broken bottle and gestured to the men to “come on” before running off.

Half an hour later he got into the flat on Moor Close, but after fleeing, an homeowner then spotted Lee in his garden on Woodhouse Hill Avenue an hour later, trying to steal tools.

After shouting at Lee, who was dragging a bag of the tools from the garden, he responded by saying: “Shut the f*** up or I will slice you up.”

The police were called but Lee had left the scene. He was eventually arrested on March 29. He gave a no-comment interview, but later admitted a dwelling burglary, an attempted dwelling burglary, actual bodily harm and theft.

Lee, of Gamble Hill Grange, Gamble Hill, has six previous convictions for 13 offences, including two non-dwelling burglaries and three for theft.

Judge Christopher Batty said he would adjourn sentencing until victim impact statements had been obtained, telling Lee it could “impact on the length of his sentence”.

He acknowledged that Lee was suffering from drug-induced psychosis at the time and had been taking drugs and drinking heavily for two weeks prior to the crimes.

Mitigating on Lee’s behalf, Jane Cooper said: “They (the crimes) were not driven in order to steal for his drug use. They came about because this relatively young man was becoming increasingly unwell.

"He was acting out in a way that was extremely serious but he was acutely unwell.”

She said that he had self-referred to Aspire, a drugs and alcohol dependency service, in order to tackle his problems.

Judge Batty told Lee he would defer sentencing until September 20, in order for the victim impact statements to be filed, and told him: “If you stay out of trouble until then, I will give you a suspended sentence.”

He ordered him to continue working with Aspire.