A Huddersfield burglar more than met his match when he tried to escape from two brave women who between them struck him with a pan and a rolling pin before sitting on him until the police arrived.
Mrs Vena Lewis was watching television around 5.30pm on February 2 with her daughter Tracy Dick who was visiting the house in De Lacy Avenue, Almondbury to check on her mother’s health after she had had an operation.
Stephanie Hollis prosecuting told Leeds Crown Court today they suddenly heard a noise and realised somebody was in the house.
Miss Dick went to investigate and in an upstairs bedroom found Adrian John Gilroy trying to hide from her.
He then tried to get past her but she grabbed hold of him and they struggled together before falling down the stairs.
They ended up on the floor of the kitchen where they continued to struggle while she called to her mother to phone for the police.
She felt a blow to the side of her face as she tried to get up and thought he then bit her on her hand. She managed to grab a pan from a work surface and struck him over the head with it and then sat on him.
Meanwhile her mother joined her, picking up a rolling pin which she used to hit Gilroy on the legs before she helped to restrain him until the police arrived.
Gilroy protested he had been set up and in interview claimed he had walked into the wrong house by mistake after he had been drinking but Mrs Hollis said the Crown did not accept that because drawers and cupboards had been opened in two of the bedrooms.
Adam Birkby for Gilroy said he wanted to apologise to the two women. At the time he had taken a significant amount of his anti-depressant medication and been drinking and committed the offence on the spur of the moment simply walking through an unlocked door.
“He is genuinely sorry for the hurt and upset he has caused, he recognises it must have been upsetting to have someone in the house and then have to restrain them on the floor and wait for the police to come.”
Gilroy, 29 of Longley Road, Lowerhouses, admitted burglary with intent and was jailed for 32 months.
The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC said Gilroy was no stranger to the courts and liable for a minimum sentence because of his record for burglary offences.
On this occasion “these courageous women set about you. Miss Dick hit you with a pan and Mrs Lewis with rolling pin.”
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