A Canterbury man on his way to court to be sentenced for burglary was caught up in a bus crash in which one of his children was injured.

Dad-of-four James Leeds had been one of two men who had carried out a knifepoint attack at a student’s home in the city.

He was due to be sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court – but the hearing was delayed several hours after the incident.

His lawyer told the court that Leeds' six-year-old had gone to hospital after the incident but did not explain where the crash had happened.

But despite the incident, it did not stop Leeds, 29, formerly of Canterbury, being given a seven-year jail sentence for aggravated burglary.

Prosecutor Christopher Prior told how university student Amy McCarthy had returned to her accommodation in Whitehall Road in October last year.

“She locked the door and went to her bedroom but at 10.30pm she heard a noise and believed it was her flat mates returning.

"She heard her bedroom door opening and she noticed her man, with a scarf around his face, standing there holding a knife, quite close to her and she was terrified..." - prosecutor Christopher Prior

“But when she heard upstairs doors opening ‘quickly and boisterously’, she became concerned.

“Then she heard her bedroom door opening and she noticed her man, with a scarf around his face, standing there holding a knife, quite close to her and she was terrified.”

The prosecutor said that Leeds and a man who has never been identified then stole a laptop from another student before telling their frightened victim: “Where is your boyfriend? Where is your fella? We are after him, we will find him!”

The two then escaped with the brand new £600 computer, which has been recovered, and police officers later arrived and discovered Leeds’ fingerprints on a downstairs window.

Ms McCarthy later told police that after the incident she was left feeling unsafe and very vulnerable.

Sheryl Nwosu, defending, said Leeds now wanted to apologise for carrying out the break-in.

He sat throughout the hearing weeping and whispering “I love you” to his partner.

The barrister said that when Leeds’ partner, who was sitting in the public gallery, heard details of the burglary she reacted “with shock and dismay” as it “described a man she doesn’t know and doesn’t recognise”.

She claimed that while driving to court his vehicle became involved in a road traffic accident.

“His six-year-old daughter was injured and taken to hospital. His two- and five-year-old children were also in the vehicle, “ she added.

Jailing him for seven years, Judge Simon James told him: “Your victim was alone in the flat and was quite understandably terrified at being confronted at night by two complete strangers, one carrying a potentially lethal weapon.”

Investigating officer Detective Constable Rebecca Mross said: "Burglary is an upsetting experience for its victims but to also be confronted in your own home by a stranger brandishing a knife is terrifying.

"But thankfully even the smallest piece of evidence – such as a fingerprint – means we can detect the culprits and bring them to justice.

"James Leeds is going to prison for a long time and I hope this serves as a message that crime doesn’t pay."

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