Bizarre blood-soaked robber hijacked Leeds couple's Ford Transit, but allowed them to unload their shopping
A blood-soaked robber threatened to stab a couple unless they handed over their van, but let them unload their shopping from the back first.
Homeless Thomas Burrows even gave them back their house keys from the keyring, and asked if they would wait a few minutes before calling the police so he could have a head start in his escape.
The 27-year-old was jailed for 27 months at Leeds Crown Court this week after admitting what his own barrister described as a “rather bizarre robbery”.
The victim and his wife had been driving their Ford Transit when they stopped on Carlton View, in the Woodhouse area, at around 9pm on July 12. The man got out of the vehicle and saw Burrows running towards him.
He was covered in blood and shouted: “Give me the keys or I will stab you.”
The scared owner handed over the keys and Burrows said: “I’m sorry I have to do this but I have just killed someone and I have to get away.”
He then let the couple remove their bags of shopping, gave them their house keys and asked them not to dial 999 for five minutes. He then said he would burn the van out and they could claim on their insurance.
Burrows drove off erratically and hit a kerb with such force he damaged the wheel and had to abandon the van.
His blood and fingerprints were found in the vehicle. An investigation quickly ruled out that Burrows had killed anyone, like he had claimed.
Burrows was recalled to prison from his last sentence for burglary and assault of an emergency worker. He will not be eligible for parole until March 2026.
He has 26 previous convictions for 74 offences, largely for shoplifting, but has later convictions for burglaries. He appeared in court this week from via video link from HMP Lincoln.
Mitigating, Eddison Flint said dad-of-one Burrows had been “trying to get on the straight and narrow for a number of years”.
He said he had been released from his last sentence in July and had been “sofa-surfing” at a friend’s house.
He said that Burrows suffered from serious mental health issues and the blood on the day of the van robbery was his own, having self harmed with a piece of glass. It was accepted he did not have a knife despite saying he would stab the van owner.
Judge Tahir Khan KC told Burrows: “You were not a well man at the time. I take into account you were not thinking straight.”