A man has been jailed for 20 months after a Boxing Day raid on a perfume shop in Huddersfield’s Kingsgate Centre.

David Allen, 44, of Fernside Avenue, Almondbury, claimed he got the keys and alarm code from a relative and broke into The Perfume Shop stealing £9,000 cash from a safe. He then re-set the alarm and left.

Allen admitted burglary and handling stolen property when he appeared before Leeds Crown Court.

The court was told how Allen was implicated by his son Dominic, who had been quizzed over a separate burglary.

Dale Brook, prosecuting, told how a woman who was disturbed during the night looked out and saw her car being driven away by a burglar.

The victim who was in the house in Grenoside View, Highburton, with her husband and two children was woken by a car door shutting at around 3am.

She got up to investigate and saw her £6,000 Vauxhall Corsa had been moved further down the street and a man getting into it. She opened the window and shouted “Oi” but the vehicle drove off.

Her husband then discovered the burglary downstairs in which the television and other electrical items in addition to her handbag had been stolen.

Mr Brook said a mobile phone was also taken and calls were made on it soon after the raid to people associated with the burglar Dominic Allen.

He subsequently implicated his father David who admitted handling some of the other stolen property. At the time he was on bail for the shop raid.

Dominic Allen, 20, of Earls Avenue, Dalton, admitted burglary, possession of cannabis and an earlier common assault and was sent to a young offender institution for two years.

Mr Brook said David Allen had gone to The Perfume Shop and using a key code had deactivated the alarm and used keys to get into the safe.

He told the court Allen’s sister Samantha was the store manager and he had spent the night at her home after getting drunk on Christmas Day.

He subsequently claimed she had provided the information and keys for the burglary which she denied and had not been charged.

Michael Sisson-Pell, representing David Allen, said he was a habitual drug user and on Christmas Day had too much to drink and went along with the idea of the burglary. He maintained he had shared the money with his sister and had offered to help police with a statement to that effect.

Since his remand in custody he had managed to become drug free and things looked more positive for the future.

Charles Blatchford, for Dominic Allen, said he had been exposed to drugs at a “tender age and now wanted to turn his life around.”