A HOMELESS drug addict has been jailed for 12 months after he was part of a group that smashed its way into a luxury Airbnb premises in Bradford city centre last month. Peter Illingworth, 41, was caught on CCTV footage with other males getting into the property and using drugs while they were inside the premises. Bradford Crown Court heard that a woman staying in one of the apartments was left feeling unsafe after witnessing what was going on that night.
Prosecutor David Ward said Illingworth, who stole a blanket and a rug while at the premises, was arrested five days later, but after he was abusive towards a female police officer he pulled down his trousers and urinated in the back of the police van. Illingworth, who appeared via a video link to HMP Leeds, insisted that he had been begging officers to let him go to the toilet, and his barrister Daisy Wrigley submitted that the urinating had not been an act of “revenge”. Mr Ward said Illingworth had then exposed himself and the court heard that it costs £50 to clean up the mess in the police vehicle.
Illingworth, who had 22 previous convictions for nearly 50 offences, pleaded guilty at the first opportunity to charges of burglary, criminal damage, and exposure. Ms Wrigley said her client had gone into the reception area of the premises and not the flats themselves. She said Illingworth’s tent and sleeping bag had been taken by the council and he had stolen items for his own comfort on the streets.
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