A MAN with a long history of burgling student's homes and small properties has been jailed for four years.

Lee Anthony Harding told York Crown Court he had nothing to do with the burglary of a two bedroom house in Nicholas Street, off Hull Road, on March 10 this year, when an iPad, laptop, loose change and a bike were taken.

The 39-year-old, of no fixed address, denied the allegation despite being caught with the laptop, £96.50 in coins and notes, and a purple note of foreign currency by a police officer on the same day.

Harding told the court he had been given the laptop by an associate in the hope he could sell it on his friend's behalf, but he was found guilty in less than half an hour by a jury of seven men and five women.

Harding had been trying to sell the laptop - stolen from two people living in the house - at Paprika Takeaway, in Tang Hall Lane, when a policeman arrived.

York Press:

York Crown Court

PC Lee Wilson said he pulled up opposite the takeaway in a marked van and saw a large group of people outside the shops.

He told Clare Walsh, prosecuting, that the man he recognised as the defendant, and who matched the description he had been given over his radio, ran off towards Alcuin Avenue.

PC Wilson gave chase and grabbed Harding, but he resisted immediately and the pair became embroiled in a scuffle.

York Press:

The group of youths started to film the ordeal on their mobile phones and PC Wilson was forced to press the emergency call button on his radio.

Harding was eventually arrested when back up arrived, but both men suffered cuts and bruises as the officer struggled to apprehend Harding.

Harding was carrying the laptop in a bag and most of the coins fell out of his pockets and on to the street during the fight with PC Wilson.

The bike was later found outside Thomas The Baker, in Tang Hall Lane, and the purple note was found in Harding's pocket.

The jury was told Harding had been convicted of similar break-ins in 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2014.

Harding was found guilty and sentenced by Judge Deborah Sherwin.

She said: "Over the years you have amassed a shocking list of convictions for all sorts of offences.

"You have preyed on the people of York for many years now who could be considered vulnerable, like students or people in shared accommodation.

Under questioning by his barrister, Holly Betke, Harding has said he had never been to Nicholas Street.

"I didn't commit any burglary on that day," he said.

"I don't deny I've done wrong in the past but I haven't committed this burglary.

"If I was involved in a burglary how come there was no forensic evidence linking me to that property?"